Scenes from Freshman Year
by MissCar
Summary: This is the story of life after high school complete with new friends, enemies, relationships, half siblings, stepsiblings, pseudo nephews, unexpected children, and future stepfathers. Ensemble story with multiple pairings: C/S, T/OC, R/TM, JZ/OC, Z/OC, JC/MC, and JB/OC. Finally completed
1. Conversations in a line

**Update 11/26/2009: I am going back through and revising the entire story. I now present a better version of _Scenes from Freshman Year_**

**This is the new chapter one.**

A post HSM 3 fan fiction starring Chad and Sharpay

Rated: Over all this story is **M** for sexual humor, sexual situations, language, and some difficult subject matter later.

Summary: College is a time were you figure out who you want to be. It's a place where you grow up and you explore life. This is a collection of stories that Chronicles Chad and Sharpay's first year of college at the University of Albuquerque. Will take place at A of U, but will contain cameos from all our favorite wildcats.

Pairing: Chad/Sharpay eventually, Troy/OC eventually

Other pairings will occur throughout the store.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical.

The following work is based on characters created by Peter Barsocchini

* * *

Chapter One: Conversations in a Line

Chad stood outside one of the many University of Albuquerque dining halls, in the desert heat, waiting to register for his fall classes. The whole process of freshmen registration at A of U annoyed Chad. Instead of registering online like all other students at the university, incoming freshmen and transfer students were required to register in person after a three-day orientation program. After two days of test that made the SATs seem like fun, Chad was forced to stand in line for hours at one of the dining halls that was converted into a makeshift registration center. Worst of all Chad would be forced to stand next to the vein of his high school existence **Sharpay Evans** the entire time.

For the first 45 minutes, they stayed completely silent, ignoring one another. Unfortunately, with the attention span of a five year old, by the time they were actually inside the building, Chad was too bored to keep quiet. Therefore, he decided to ask Sharpay the one question he wanted to know the answer to sense the night of the musical when he learned that Sharpay, not Troy would be joining him at A of U.

"Why are you here?" Chad asked the woman behind him.

"Registering for classes, just like you. I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you were that stupid." Sharpay responded with pure annoyance.

"I meant why are you going to the University of Albuquerque?"

"Ryan got into Juilliard and I didn't."

"There are other schools that specialize in the performing arts, why not go to one of those schools? Even Troy is going to Berkeley instead of here. Both of you have the same major."

"Yes, but Troy is going to Berkeley to follow Gabriella like a lost puppy." Although Chad would not tell anyone, he believed Sharpay's words to be true.

"The drama program here isn't great, but it is still pretty good. But that's beside the point; there are no other choices for me."

"What do you mean?" Chad asked her in complete puzzlement.

"We are standing here in the middle of Martha **Evans **Hall waiting to register for classes. This is just one of the four buildings on this campus named after my family members. My great grandfather, on my mother's side, was once president of this university. My father is on the board of trustees now. Someone must represent the family name, and unfortunately it is me."

"If the family legacy was so important, why did Ryan get to go to Juilliard?" Chad inquired.

"We made a deal. Both Ryan and I applied only to Juilliard and A of U. If we both got into Juilliard, that would be the end of the Evans legacy at A of U. But since I didn't get in…"

"You get the honor of representing your family at A of U." Chad finished for her.

"Exactly,"

"Although, if your family practically owns the school, why are you waiting in line like the rest of us lowly peasants?"

"I just want the normal college experience for once," Sharpay, answered in an almost whisper.

"And waiting in line for hours on end for classes that you don't want to take is part of the normal college experience? What college traditions will you participate in next; the ritualistic binge drinking and passing out on your roommate's bed? Of course this is after you get sick on the way back to the dorms.

"That's not normal, that is disgusting." Sharpay replied in disgust. "Like I would ever drink beer."

"The ice princess could never bring herself to drink beer like us commoners?" his words were not malicious in any way. Rather, it was completely in jest. Both began to giggle a little bit at his joke. The two continued to talk about everything from last year's musical to what classes they were registering for this semester.

"Next," yell a distant voice from in front of them, breaking them from their conversation

"I guess we finally made it to the front of the line." Sharpay commented.

"I guess we did, I'll see you around campus okay. Maybe we could do lunch in the cafeteria, another ritual of college life."

"Maybe," was all Sharpay said as she walked to the open computer terminal.

**A/N: After 21 chapters I decided to update the first chapter to add a summary for all those people like me who don't start reading a story until it hits at least 100,000 words.**


	2. Of Boxes and Elevators

**Update 11/26/2009: This is the new chapter Two.**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical

A/N: Because the University of Albuquerque is essentially a fictional university, the school depicted in this fic will be a combination of Ohio University, the college I attended, and the University of New Mexico. The situations in this story are mostly fictional. Any resemblance to anything that actually occurs is purely coincidental.

* * *

Chapter Two: Of Boxes and Elevators

Chad could not understand why the University of Albuquerque decided to start the school year on one of the hottest days of the year. Thank god, he asked for a dorm room with air conditioning. His parents sat in the front seat of the minivan, together for the first time since their divorce was finalized 11 months earlier.

His mother came all the way from her new home in Washington, DC to send her only child away to college. His father would be moving soon as well, accepting a promotion and job transfer to Cleveland Ohio. However, he was okay with the moves. At least now, he did not have to justify his decision to move into the dorms anymore.

Of course, his parents argue the entire 40 minute drive to the campus about everything from who should drive to who was responsible for the divorce. Now after waiting 30 minutes with the bickering pair for a parking spot in front of his new dorm room, Chad decided to leave his parents to pick up his keys.

After 20 minutes in line, a 10-minute lecture on how to fill out the move in forms, and a 5 minute presentation on the upcoming events for first year students, Chad made his way over Roger Evans Hall. The building was around six stories tall and in the same architectural style of the rest of the campus. In front of the building stood a large statue of the building's namesake, who looked remarkably like Vince Evans. Chad could not help but think that the Evans really did own this school.

In the parking lot behind the building, his parents were beginning to unload the van. The two were currently arguing over what they should bring up to Chad's dorm room first. Next to his parents, was a beautiful brunette girl beginning to take things out of the red minivan. Unfortunately, his loose sports equipment began to fall on top of the girl. Chad immediately ran to help her.

"Here let me help you." He said as he kept his favorite basketball from hitting her in the face.

"I'm fine. Chad did you have to bring an entire sporting goods store with you?" said a voice that Chad would recognize anywhere even with the new hair color.

"You died your hair. Zeke broke up with you!" Chad shouted excitedly.

"I just wanted a change. The end of my relationship with Zeke had nothing to do with it. I mean he is going to college all the way in Chicago to study the culinary arts. We were bound to break up. I doubt that you and Miss perfect decided to stay together, considering her going to school almost 2000 miles away?" Sharpay said in her defense.

"Actually we decided to do the long distance thing." Chad said quietly.

"How cute," Sharpay replied in a tone that automatically told Chad that she thought the situation was anything but cute.

"Chad the girl can do whatever she wants. I added highlights and cut off about 6 inches after the divorce," added Chad's mother from behind."

"Thank you Ms. Danforth"

"Actually it is Ms. Sanchez now. "

"If you tried doing that before the divorce, we may still be married right now. Charlie Danforth mentioned from behind Chad. Before Chad knew it they were back to arguing again.

"Just ignore them. They haven't got to the part of post divorce life when their civil to each other in public and for the sake of their child." Chad practically yelled the last part as he began to pick up his luggage.

"That's okay. My parents would act like that to if they actually lived on the same continent with each other. I think their marriage has lasted so long because they live in separate countries most of the year. Do you realize that their acting a lot like you and Taylor?" Sharpay commented as she followed behind him with his laptop case and another suitcase

"We don't act like that at all." Chad denied her statement even though he knew she was partially correct.

"Why are you helping me?" Chad asked

"If you read my Tshirt instead of just looking at my breast you would know why I'm here." As if noticing for the first time he realized her shirt said A of U move in crew. "I'm here to assist incoming freshmen move into the dorms."

"I wasn't looking at your…" Chad stammered out as he pointed to Sharpay's chest area. "You're a freshman to."

"Because daddy dearest had to go to Japan for a conference today, I got to move into the dorms three days early just so he could get his 'fabulous' photos for the web site. Because nothing sells the school better than a member of the university's board of trustees/directors helping his daughter move in to her dorm room."

"You're living in the dorms? Your closet is bigger than most dorm rooms on this campus." Chad asked as he pushed the elevator button.

"Yes but unfortunately due to the changes in the global economy mommy and daddy will be moving elsewhere. This leaves me here in New Mexico to carry on the family legacy." Sharpay answered in annoyance.

"Same situation with me, now that my parents are free of me and each other their moving to focus on their careers. By the way, what building are you in? " Chad replied as the elevator finally came.

"I am just down the hall from you actually, in room 629." Sharpay answered as the two walked onto the elevator.

Not another word was spoken until they made it to the room. "I didn't mean anything by what I said earlier. I think you look beautiful. I mean you looked good as a brunette." Chad said almost shyly.

"Thank you. Where do you want me to put this stuff?" Sharpay replied as they walked into the white and sterile dorm room. The room was small. Maybe a little too small for two people but Chad was sure he could get by.

"Just put everything in the middle. I will figure it out when my roommate gets here."

"That works."

"What exactly did Vince offer you to go along with this arrangement? Because there is no way, you agreed to do this without compensation. I mean you are the only person I know that had a personal assistant in high school."Chad asked as they walked out of the room and back downstairs.

"I could do something out of the goodness of my heart." Chad just looked at her pointedly not believing a single word she just said.

"You're right. You know I hate doing manual labor. I received some compensation for my pain and suffering. I get three weeks at the spa of my choice for living in the dorms and letting the university pressed take pictures of my move in day. I get 4 hours with the American Express black card in New York on black Friday for assisting you and our fellow students move into the dorms. For having a roommate, said roommate and me will get to go to the vacation destination of her choice for spring break. If they can make it that long, that is."

"You're going to have a roommate. Oh, this is going to be entertaining. I bet she will not even last a week with you."

"Oh please like you're going to do any better. Zeke told me about what happened at basketball camp during the summer of 2005. Even Troy could not take sharing a cabin with you and he is your best friend. I doubt your roommate will make it more than a few days. "

"Just shut up and grab a box."

"Whatever Chad,"

Within 30 minutes, everything was out of the van and into Chad's new dorm room.

"Since you helped us out with the move in stuff, would you like to go with me and my parents to lunch? I promise we will go somewhere that serves salads. Besides, it would be nice to be there with someone who will not argue the entire time."

"Sure why not. Let me go change. Although who says we're not going to argue the entire time." Sharpay said with a smile as she ran to her dorm room to change close.


	3. How to Lose Your Roommate

**Update 11/26/2009: This is the new Chapter Three**

Thank you to everyone who is reading this story, especially those who reviewed. Thank you for your kind words of encouragement.

If I owned high school musical, Chad would have been with Sharpay by HSM3.

**Chapter Three: How to Lose Your Roommate in 48 hours or less**

* * *

Joshua Rodriguez was a 22-year-old fifth year senior with a double major in computer science and graphic design. He grew up in a tiny town in New Mexico with no stoplights and one stop sign. His scholarships and his job as a resident adviser were the only reason he could afford to stay in school. Normally his job was easy. Evans hall was an honors student dorm with mandatory quiet hours, two study rooms, and a state of the art computer lab. His duty was to keep the freshman from getting alcohol poisoning and making sure and no one slept in the computer lab. Unfortunately, that would not be the case this year.

On Monday during RA orientation, Joshua found out that two of his students will be moved to other dorms so one of the Trustees little princess of a daughter and her boy toy could be in Evans hall. When the little princess moved in on Tuesday with designer luggage and camera crews in tow, Josh knew he would not like this person at all. Her only redeeming quality was that she helped him create the name stickers for the residence on his floor. Apparently, applying glitter to things makes her happy. On Friday, when Chad moved into the dorms complete with arguing parents and a mini sporting goods store he knew neither of them belong in this residence hall.

On Sunday morning, Joshua's assumptions were proving correct. Two days after moving in both Sharpay and Chad's roommates requested transfers. Apparently, Sharpay roommate Drusilla has an aversion to pink. Chad's roommate just cited irreconcilable differences. Josh really did not care; personally, he just wanted an excuse to get them out of his building.

"Classes have not even started yet and you two have managed to scare away both your roommates. This is the first time in my three years as a resident adviser that I have had students begging for new roommates after less than 48 hours." Josh practically screamed at them.

"It was not our fault," both said in unison.

"That's not what they said," answer Josh.

"I don't see what is wrong with having a little pink here and there," responded Sharpay.

"I'm on the basketball team I need to have my equipment in my own room." Chad added.

"Both of you need to learn to respect your roommates needs and desires." Said Josh in response.

"But they don't need to respect our rights?" Sharpay asked in defense. Josh decided to ignore her question.

"You painted the room pink without asking your roommate for permission."

"I asked Sarah a month ago at orientation if it was okay to paint the room pink and she said yes. How was I to know that you would switch out my roommate with someone who changed her name to that of a character from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_?" Argued Sharpay even though she knew Josh was obviously not listening to anything said.

"You through her black comforter in the trash," Josh yelled at Sharpay.

"Yes, after she did the same thing to me and destroyed my dishes."

"Her grandmother made her that comforter on her deathbed."

"I didn't know it had sentimental value, considering that it was made in China." Sharpay answered sarcastically.

"I don't care," he said to both of them. "Chad, you have no right to throw out your roommate's opera CDs"

"I did not do that. He is lying. Did he tell you that he did that to my iPod? Not that you would believe us."

"I know you two are used to getting whatever you want, being the rich spoiled brats that you are. I'm not your daddy and I don't care. Neither one of you belongs in this building and both of you will be out here as soon as I talk to the resident director. Stay here." Josh said as he left the RA offices, slamming the door behind him. He was sure that the occupants of the room would be gone from the building within the hour.

* * *

**48 hours earlier: Friday afternoon**

Chad and Sharpay walked back into Evans hall with Ms. Sanchez behind them almost in tears. The lunch went well overall. Sharpay even manage to get his parents to stop arguing for the duration of the meal. Now it was time for Ms. Sanchez to say goodbye to her baby boy.

Please do not do something stupid this semester. I love you." Ms. Sanchez said as she pulled her son into a hug and kissed his cheek.

"Mom your embarrassing me," Chad said as he pulled away from his mom.

"Sharpay it was lovely meeting you. If Obama wins the election you two will have to come up to DC for the inauguration."

"That's a wonderful ideal. Daddy is always giving money to various campaigns, I'm sure I can get tickets."

"Take care of my baby, Sharpay" Ms. Sanchez said just loud enough for Sharpay to hear.

"I will" Sharpay whispered back as she and Chad began to make their way to their rooms on the sixth floor.

"Your mom seems nice." Sharpay said in an effort to break the silence.

"She is when she's not yelling at dad," Chad answered as they stepped out of the elevator and began walking toward Sharpay's room. "I can't wait to see your room. Is this the first time you're going to a non-pink room?"

"You'll be amazed what you can convince the school to allow with a donation or two. Pink is now on the approved list of room colors. Unfortunately, it has to be a light pink." As the two walked closer to Sharpay's room, they notice a blonde woman standing in the door, ordering people around.

"Just put the pink stuff over on the floor, will have to get replacements later." Said the woman in the doorway.

"What are you doing with my stuff?" Sharpay asked the woman as she stormed into her dorm room.

"I'm sorry I thought we sent an e-mail that said no pink. My baby hates pink. Darlene just can't stand the color." The blond woman said s she moved all of Sharpay pink things out of the room.

"It's Drusilla mom. We have to take down your posters as well. I hope you don't mind, don't worry will replace them." Drusilla said as she ripped Sharpay as posters off the wall.

"The painters will be here Monday to get rid of this ugly pink color." Drusilla's mom added from the side of the room.

Recognizing the signs that the mountain lion was about to pounce on the two unsuspecting women, Chad grabbed her arm to drag her away from the room.

"While you two finish in the room, Sharpay is going to help me unpack. You two ladies have fun."

As soon as they were down the hall, Sharpay was beginning to shake with anger.

"I never thought I would see someone who was a bigger diva than you"

"The diva is going down."

"Just breathe Sharpay. Just think of spring break in Cancun. If you kill your roommate, you will not get to go there.

"I was thinking maybe somewhere in India or Japan."

That works. Every time the little princess and mommy dearest over there makes you mad just think about your spring break plans."

"Does that really work?"

"I survived working for you for the summer by thinking of my new car, of course it works."

Just as the two were approaching, a basketball flew past them. A voice from within Chad's dorm room said, "I hate sports."

"Just remember Chad, visualize something positive." Sharpay smirked as she used her camera phone to capture the entire scene.

**

* * *

**

Saturday morning.

Chad sat in the downstairs study lounge reading his textbooks, as he listened to his iPod. He desperately needed to listen to something other than opera. At this point, he would be willing to listen to selections from _Twinkle Towne._ At this moment, Chad was never madder at Troy then he was now. If Troy would have came to U of A, then Chad would not be stuck with the roommate from hell. After throwing all of Chad sporting goods out the door, Chad's roommate Patrice, began to blast opera music threw **their** room. Although, Chad did not have time to read all the rules of Evans hall, he knew that loud music was prohibited. Yet the RA said nothing. Chad realized he would be moving out of this room in two weeks, when he had to prevent Sharpay from hitting Patrice after he insulted musical theatre. Apparently, Patrice believes that musicals are the lowest form of entertainment. His comments on hip-hop were even worse.

Both Sharpay and Chad agreed to do whatever was necessary to survive the two weeks until they could switch dorm rooms, even if this meant allowing their roommates to walk all over them. Now Chad was hiding out in the study lounge studying for classes that have not even started yet. His girlfriend would be so proud.

"Are you hiding from your roommate from hell?" Asked a voice from the hall.

"It's either that or grabbing my basketballs from your dorm room to throw at his head. Thank you for keeping them."

"Thank you for keeping all my pink stuff, I was positive that the vampire wannabe was going to throw the stuff in the trash again. We can take the stuff to the mansion today if you want. You can keep it there until you get a different roommate."

"Why can't we stay in the mansion until we get different roommates?"

"Because daddy would fly back from his business meeting, just to kick you out of my bedroom… I mean the house."

"I know you want me in your bedroom, but I have a girlfriend." Chad said with a small smile.

"Very funny, curly top. Only 13 days until we can get different roommates. Look on the bright side, your roommate isn't using your new dishes as an ashtray."

"13 days, just 13 days" Chad began to repeat in an effort to calm down.

**Present**

"He didn't listen to a word we said," Chad said in annoyance as soon as Josh exited the room.

"He does not want us here because we don't meet his image of what the perfect honor students are supposed to be like." Sharpay responded to Chad.

"So he's going to get rid of us because he doesn't like us."

"Essentially yes," responded Sharpay.

"That's just great," Chad said as he sat back down on the chair. "We have just as much right to be here as anyone else."

"They wouldn't have let us in the honor dorm if we didn't meet the minimum requirements. We were both honor roll students in high school and neither have Mickey Mouse majors."

"I'm not a brain"

"High schools over Chad and I'm not your girlfriend. I do not care that you are smarter than I am. I also do not care that jocks are not supposed to be intelligent. You do not think I saw the chemistry and calculus books on the table yesterday. You can fool your friends, but not me."

"How did you know about the honor roll thing?"

"It was on your job application for Lava Springs last year."

"OK, so I'm a brain. Apparently your one as well. But what are we going to do?"

"Josh is just the RA. We will speak to his superior."

"How are we going to do that we're stuck in this room."

"Don't you just love modern technology?" Sharpay said as she pulled out her smart phone.

"Hello, Lisa it is Sharpay. How was your summer at Lava Springs? That is fabulous. Lisa, I know we should have talk to you as soon as things started going bad. We are having problems with our roommates and RA. We thought we could resolve them ourselves or hold out until we could transfer rooms. That is not an option anymore. I am going to be sending you some videos of what has been going on. I am an Evans; of course, I am going to get evidence. Word of mouth testimony is worthless. Thank you for looking into this Lisa." Sharpay said as she hung up the phone.

"You are a genius," Chad said as Sharpay began to send the files to the head of Residents Life.

* * *

Josh quietly waited in the living room of the Resident Director for his section. He was confident that will get rid of his two problem students. The testimony of their roommates would guarantee that the two would be out before classes even began.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Josh, but have received a very interesting phone call from the head a Resident's Life Lisa Sherman. It seems that there are some major problems on your floor." The Middle age woman said as she walked into the room.

"That's why I came to speak with you; it seems that two of our students are causing major problems. I feel it would be best if they were removed from the building instead of just sent to another room in the complex.

"Yes two of your students are causing major problems. Just not the two you think. Why don't we watch a video that was just sent to me a few minutes ago?"

After 30 seconds of watching the video, Josh knew that he just lost.

* * *

"I'm so sorry about what happen to you and Chad. You should that told me what was going on earlier." Lisa said as she led the two back to their rooms.

"We thought we could handle it." Sharpay said in defense.

"We had no idea that the RA was out to get us," Chad added.

"We're here to help students, not let our own prejudice cause us to treat them badly. Your roommates have been reassigned to private rooms in other buildings. Your RA is now on probation and is being moved to another building as well. In two weeks, you too will receive new roommates. Hopefully it will go better the second time around."

"I hope so too" Sharpay said quietly.

"It's nice to meet you Chad, I'm so glad that Mr. Evans asked for you to be in the same building."

"What?" Both yelled in unison.

"Mr. Evans felt it was best for you and your boyfriend to live in the same building. I think your brother suggested it first. From the videos I could see Chad really cares about you sharpay."

Before Chad could argue, Sharpay pulled him away saying, "Thank you Lisa, for all your help."

"Don't say anything Chad, you can yell at Ryan later after we pick up our stuff from the mansion. I'll let you drive the convertible." Sharpay said as she dangled the keys in front of Chad.

"I am only staying quiet because you are letting me drive the convertible." He said as he took the car keys from her.


	4. Freshman Disorientation:Part I

**Update 11/26/2009: This is the new Chapter four**

Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. Also please check out my new community for post high school HSM Fanfics called _High school wasn't meant to last forever._

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters except the ones I created.

**Chapter four: Freshman Disorientation: The Sharpay Experience**

* * *

At 5:50 AM, Sharpay woke from a comfortable sleep; grabbed her designer shower shoes, makeup kit, and bathroom accessories; and proceeded to make her way to the girl's communal bathroom. The only way for five girls (normally six) to share a single bathroom was to create a schedule. Unfortunately, because she had the earliest classes and needed the most time getting ready in the morning she received the 6:00 AM slot. Sharpay was positive after a few more days of waking up at 5:50 in the morning she would switch to a less time intensive morning routine.

It was not until Sharpay return from her shower, that she would realize one of her sweet mates crossed out her name on her dorm room door and put mountain lion on top of it. Sharpay was sure that the person who defaced her door was standing right down the hallway in nothing but a white fluffy towel and a shower cap. For a moment Sharpay was wondering why she did not see how hot he was before.

"Sharpay, I know you enjoy looking at my body, but I really need to get dressed."

Now she remembered, his attitude always got in the way of his beauty. He was way too cocky to be that sexy. Not that she personally found him attractive or had dreams about him involving a police uniform and handcuffs. Really, she did not think of him in that way. At least that is what she told herself as she entered her dorm room. For the sake of the rest of their suite mates, she would pick him up a bathrobe.

By 7:30 am, she was dressed head to toe in pink. Before leaving for her first class, she grabbed an energy bar from the shelf. She may have to use a communal bathroom, but she was not eating in a cafeteria that would not prepare special meals for her.

Why did she have to have a math class at 8:00 AM in the morning? Oh yes she knew why, her participation in the A of U assist other schools program required her to spend her afternoons at East High. Only on Fridays would she not have an 8:00 AM class. On Mondays and Wednesdays, she would have English from nine to 11. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she would have her introduction to film class in that time slot. This was the only class of this semester that is somewhat related to either of her majors. Due to her being a double major, she was required to take most of her core academic courses during the first year. She would not have a single acting class until the second semester. After an 11:00 AM lunch, her 12:00 PM chemistry class would be her last class of the day on campus. Afterwards, she would run over to East high to spend the last period working with students. Thank god, she is getting credit for this.

Truman hall was an older building on the east part of the campus away from the dorms. The class was small. The only person she recognized was Penelope Castro, the former drama queen of West High who Sharpay lost the lead role in a local community theater production this past summer. The girl was dressed completely inappropriately in a body cleaning tank top that might as well be a bra and shorts that would have to be peeled off her body. Sharpay absolutely hated Penelope Castro.

"You're taking a math class?" Penelope asked in fake shock from the back of the classroom.

"It is one of the core requirements for graduation," Sharpay answered as she sat down near the front.

"Yes but I didn't think you were smart enough for this class. Also, I thought an airhead actress like you would not need to concern her selves with such complex things."

"In addition to majoring in the theatrical arts, I am also, double majoring in business. Besides, I did get a 620 on the math portion of my SAT. If I got one more question right on the math pretest, I could be in the calculus class right now. Personally, I am surprised you are not in remedial math. In academics, like everything else East High was always superior to West High. Gabriella kicked your schools ass in the academic decathlon for the last two years. You remember Gabby don't you; she's the girlfriend of the guy who turned you down all summer during the play production." Sharpay added that the last bit about Gabriella and Troy just to make the other girl angry.

"I'm so glad you're thinking ahead. With your acting skills being what they are, you are definitely going to need a backup plan. Hopefully, your business skills are far superior to your acting skills." Penelope shot back in a sickening sweet voice.

Thank god, the instructor walked in before Sharpay had time to kick Penelope's ass. Going to judiciaries for beating up a fellow student was not something Sharpay needed to happen in the first week. Their instructor, Miguel Lee was a graduate student who believed Birkenstocks were appropriate footwear for classroom instruction. The man even gave them homework on the first day. She did not even have the book yet and he was giving them homework. God she hated her math class already. Sharpay was so angry when she left the classroom that she accidentally walked into someone leaving the room next door.

"Sharpay you need to pay more attention," said the voice of her favorite annoyance as he began to pick up their books.

"Chad is that you. I am so glad we are going to be in the same school this year. I always thought you were a fabulous basketball player. I am actually going to be on the cheerleading squad. I can't wait to cheer you on this season." Penelope said as she tried to grab on to Chad's arm.

"How wonderful another opportunity for you to show your inner ho to the entire school." Sharpay replied in pure ice princess mode as Chad avoid it Penelope's touch.

"Sharpay, I forgot to tell you I love your new hair color. It makes you look less stupid. If only appearance could translate into an actual increase in intelligence." Before Sharpay could react, Chad grabbed her by the arm and began to take her to the closest exit.

"I'm sorry, but I really need to get to my English class. Sharpay, what is your next class?

"Freshman English 152 C: Heroes and Villains of Contemporary Literature," replied Sharpay.

"I'm going to the English building as well, Chad. Maybe I can walk you to your next class."

"Actually, Sharpay and I had the same next class. Maybe some other time," Chad said in a way that meant he really did not want to see Penelope again.

"See you around Chad." Penelope waved as she said the words in a seductive voice.

"Oh my god I can't believe she was hitting on you like that. She is such a ho." Sharpay said once they were outside the building.

"Considering she propositioned half of the East High basketball team last year, I will agree with you on that point. She even tried to drag poor Jimmy to the janitor's closet. He was terrified." Chad said as they continued on their way to Madison hall.

"He was barely 15 than, and she was almost 19 at the time. That is practically child abuse. Although it does not surprise me considering she tried the same thing with Troy during the play this summer. It got so bad that Gabriella join the production to keep her away. Now she has her sights on you and Taylor is 2000 miles away unable to protect you."

"Oh god no," Chad responded with a groan of irritation and annoyance.

"Are we were actually in the same class or was that an excuse to get away from her?"

"We are in the same class. However, you would know that because I told you this was the class I was taking. I thought you were taking 153 D: Feminist Perspectives on American Literature?"

"Yes I was, unfortunately that class was full. You made this course seem so good that I just had to take it," she said in a sarcastic tone. "This was the only English class available that fit into my schedule."

Once they reached the classroom, Sharpay decided to stay with Chad in the back. It was a small class with only about 15 students; all but two of the students were men. Unfortunately, the other female student was Sharpay's former roommate Drusilla. Their instructor Mr. Carl Jackson was already seated in the front.

"I Know most of you are taking this class because we will be reading comic books and watching various films. This curriculum will cover much more than graphic novels; we will be reading materials on war and genocide. Traditional books will also be part of the curriculum. This curriculum will examine how one society's villain is another society's hero. In addition will cover how stereotypes influences our perception of certain groups as heroes or villains. No, we are not covering this just because your instructor is African American. We are covering this because it is a very important concept to understand. Each of you will be writing three essays in this class, as well as, two short fictional story in addition to various other assignments this semester.

"Since most of you were unable to pick up the books for this class this weekend, because I did not get the syllabus tobookstore on time, we're going to have a short class today to allow you all time to pick up the books. Now we are going to take a few minutes to introduce ourselves to our classmates. Then I will pass out tonight's assignment. After that, I will pass out the book list and the syllabus for the semester. Then you are free to go. Let's begin with you two in the back," he said pointing to Sharpay and Chad.

"My name is Chad Danforth. I am a first year student originally from the Albuquerque area and a recent graduate of East High school. I am majoring in computer science and I hope to design video games someday. My minor is Latino studies." Even though she knew that he was intelligent and could do more than just sink baskets, Sharpay was shocked that Chad did not mention his status on the basketball team. Basketball was the only thing that really defined him in high school.

"Very good Mr. Danforth, now you young lady," the instructor said as he pointed to Sharpay.

"My name is Sharpay Evans. Yes, several buildings on this campus are named after members of my family. No, I cannot help with the current crackdown on underage drinking. I am majoring in the theatrical arts and business. I do not think I will have time for a minor, but I was thinking about women's studies. I also graduated from East High school in Albuquerque."

"So you two went to the same high school?" question the instructor.

"Yes, Sharpay was the villain of our high school." Chad responded.

"I was the villain? You and your little basketball friends infiltrated my drama department. I was just trying to protect the sanctity of the theater." Sharpay said in anger.

"What about when you tried to break up Gabriella and Troy, as well as, dumped your brother as you're acting partner just so you could win the Lava Springs talent show? " Chad shot back at her.

"I did not try to break them up. I just wanted an acting challenge. I've been working with Ryan for forever and I needed to test myself." Sharpay said in her defense.

"Your comments illustrate how our perception influences how we determine the villain and the hero of a particular situation. I believe you two are going to have a different homework assignment tonight."

* * *

"I can't believe he's making us write about are high school experiences to explain how a person could be perceived as a hero and a villain in the exact same situation," Chad said as they left the classroom.

"If you didn't call me the villain of our high school we would be doing the same assignment as everyone else instead of a special collaborative project. At least he gave us until next Monday to complete the assignment. I guess we better go get the books."

"Do you want to go to lunch afterwards? So that we can talk about the English project, not for any other reason."

"Might as well." Sharpay said as the two began to make their way to the bookstore.

The first day will be continued in Freshman Disorientation: Chad style

**A/N: Sharpay's comments about having fantasies about Chad in a police uniform was inspired by the scene during the _I want it all_ fantasy sequence were Sharpay disappears with Officer Chad wearing nothing but a nightgown.**


	5. Freshman Disorientation: part II

**Update 11/26/2009: This is the new Chapter 5**

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed the story or added it to their favorite story list.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters except the ones I created.

I also do not own any of the recognizable stores mentioned in this story.

**Chapter 5: Freshman Disorientation: Chad Style**

Unlike most schools, A of U did not have its own bookstore. Instead four different establishments sold books to the student population. Professor Jackson didn't choose any of the traditional establishments or maybe he did choose all four bookstores and only gave them part of the lists. Chad really didn't care at this point. For the last 45 minutes he and Sharpay have been running around the stores near campus trying to find the textbooks for their English class. Why couldn't he take a normal English class like all of his peers who could pick up their books at any store on campus?

At the first bookstore they found the grammar composition book, but none of the course reading materials. At the second bookstore, they found the collection of essays as well as the textbook for the introductory to film class that both would be taking the next day. At the third bookstore they were able to find one of the two novels they would be reading, as well as, Sharpay's chemistry textbook. As they walked to the fourth store Chad was very agitated. He could be playing basketball right now instead of this scavenger hunt for textbooks.

"No wonder he gave us an extra hour and a half to pick up books. It's been 45 minutes and we only have a quarter of the list. They can even put the bookstores right next to each other, instead of all of them are about a block away from the next store. My new Jimmy Choo is completely ruined." Sharpay complained as she noticed the scuffle marks on her brand-new shoes.

"Well that's what you get for wearing shoes that cost more than a semester's worth of textbooks. This is the last store, Sharpay. The books have to be in there. We'll just go talk to the friendly salesperson , grab our textbooks, and go talk about the project" Chad said as they walked through the double doors of the business.

"That's fine. Although maybe we should write down our perspective of what happened, before we talk about it. That way we cannot influence the other person's perspective until we're completely certain of our own. Maybe we should choose one major event to focus on, instead of doing the entire four years."

"You just want to do that, because if we look at the entire four years you really would be the villain of our high school. It would probably be easier to narrow things down a bit."

"I wasn't that bad. I'm ambitious, not evil. I'm not some one-dimensional Disney villain who's out to get everyone. Is that all everyone saw me as in high school?" Sharpay questioned.

"You did provide a lot of evidence to support the villain prospective. During Sophomore year, you reduced Janet Math to tears by humiliating her in front of the entire student body during the winter musical."

"She was sending dirty text messages to my boyfriend at the time, Richard Johnson. In retrospect, I should have just let her take him. He was a horrible boyfriend." Sharpay began to shiver a little bit at the memory

"You scared Richard so badly he transferred to West the next year."

"I don't want to write about that incident for class. There's too much that happened that you know nothing about. Let's just say Richard really lived up to his name and leave it at that. What about if we focus on the winter musical of 2007 or the summer at lava springs?"

"What about the senior musical?" Chad asked as a salesperson approached the two.

"Hello can I help you with your textbook purchase?" Ask the salesperson in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"We are looking for the books for English 152 C taught by Mr. Jackson." Sharpay said as she handed the salesperson schedule.

"I don't see anything on the shelf for this class, let me check the computer." The salesperson said as she walked away.

"Analyzing the senior musical wouldn't be appropriate for this project. The worst thing I did was tell Troy that Gabriella got into the Stanford University Honors Program. You and I both know she wasn't going unless Troy encouraged her. It was not my fault that she use the program as an excuse to run away from her problems. I'm not responsible for Little Miss perfects avoidance technique."

"You're right Sharpay." Chad said in defeat.

"Did you just say I'm right?"

"What happened with Gabriella was not your fault, it was hers. We shouldn't have blamed you for her leaving. I'm sorry we took everything out on you." Just then the salesperson came back.

"I'm sorry, we don't have any of these books in stock. Professor Jackson usually uses the specialty bookstore Academic World," The salesperson said in apology.

"Why couldn't the people at the other bookstores tell us that?" Sharpay practically yelled in annoyance and frustration.

"I only know because I took this class two years ago and had to do the same hunt for textbooks." replied the person.

"Thank you for checking" Chad said as they began to walk out of the store.

"If anybody has a right to be mad it is me. Troy was the one who told Jimmy that I have a crush on him. Did you know that he signed up for drama I just because I am the teaching assistant. I'm going to have to deal with a horny 16-year-old chasing after me all semester because of Troy."

"I don't think you have to worry you're not his type."

"I'm beautiful, I'm everyone's type.

"You're not his."

"Whatever Chad let's just go."

* * *

Unfortunately academic world did not have the textbooks either. Apparently Professor Jackson forgot to put his order in on time and the books would not arrive until next Monday, after their project was due. The salesperson at that store, suggested that they try a Barnes and Nobles type store, since the remainder of the books on the list could be found there. Sharpay offered to pick up the books after class by herself since she would not begin herteachers aid duties at East high until Friday.

To his surprise, Chad was actually happy Sharpay was in his English class. Even though he now have an extra assignment that would take a large amount of time to complete. It was good to have someone who understood his pass. As of right now, she would be the only familiar face he would see this semester that he could actually stand having a conversation with.

Earlier in his calculus B class, the only person he knew was Nicolas Wellington III, the former resident brain of West high. He remembered almost punching Nicolas last school year when he tried to hit on Taylor at the academic decathlon. Chad enjoyed the sight of Nicolas's face when the boy realized that the "dumb jock" from East High was just as smart as he was.

Now Chad sat in his noontime chemistry class bored to tears. Why couldn't the professor just pass out the syllabus and let them leave. Instead the professor spent 30 minutes going over principles that Chad learned in the 11th grade. He knew no one in the class except for his former roommate, who Chad definitely did not want to talk him.

After the extremely boring lecture he ran to his dorm room to pick up his basketball gear and catch an hour nap before the first basketball practice of the season. Unfortunately on the way back to his room he ran into Penelope.

"You live in Evans hall too. That is great. I live on the third floor. What floor do you live on?" A very perky Penelope said as she followed Chad to the elevators.

"The sixth floor," Chad replied to the girl not really wanting her to know where he lived. She would probably try to break in and molest him in his sleep.

"I noticed this morning that you're taking calculus B class. Maybe you can tutor me in that class and I can repay you by showing you the things I do best." from her seductive tone she was definitely not talking about mathematics. 'God she was such a slut.' Chad thought to himself as she began to throw herself at him.

"I do not think my girlfriend would like that very much." Chad said to the girl that keeps throwing herself at him. He hoped very much that she did not know his girlfriend was 2000 miles away at a completely different school.

"I think your girlfriend who is all the way on the East Coast will not mind that much." Great she knew that his girlfriend was powerless to stop her advances. "Unless Taylor is not the girlfriend you're referring to." Penelope responded in a cool tone.

"I'm with someone else now." Okay, it was a complete lie, but maybe Penelope would buy it. After all the entire Residence Life department currently believes he was dating Sharpay Evans. As he watched Sharpay walk into the building, then the idea hit him. The Residence Life department already believed he was dating Sharpay, what harm would it do to make one more person believed the same thing.

"Actually there's my girlfriend now." Chad said as he pointed to Sharpay.

"You're dating Sharpay, the ice Queen of East High. A girls so frigid, that her own boyfriend came to me to warm him up." Chad seriously wanted to know what she meant by warming Zeke up. If it meant what Chad thought it meant, Zeke would be in too much pain to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year.

"Look Penelope I have to go change for basketball practice. Maybe I'll see you some other time." Personally Chad hope that time would never come.

"Why don't I walk you to your dorm room?"

"That's okay I'm going to see Sharpay first." Chad said hoping the mere mention of his fake girlfriend would scare the annoying girl away.

"I have a class on the other side of campus at two anyway." she said as she walked out the front door of the building.

Thank God she took the hint.

* * *

Every single muscle in his body felt like it was on fire as he walked out of the practice facilities. He was so used to be the big man on campus and now Chad was at the very bottom of the social ladder, as well as, the team. He was not the top player on the team anymore. Winning two back-to-back championships in high school no longer meant anything. Almost everybody on this team had won a state championship or two.

Practically the entire team was from out of state. Only he and one other player were from New Mexico. He was the new guy on a team where he knew nobody. But that wasn't quite true. Michael Ford formerly of West high was the captain of that squad when Chad was still on the JV squad during ninth-grade. For the first time in Chad's basketball career Troy would not be by his side and that thought scared him greatly.

He couldn't help but wonder if Sharpay was going through the same thing. This would be the first time in her life that she was without Ryan. Maybe because they are in the same boat, they were actually getting along right now. She was the only one he knew and the only person who knew her. As he spent more time with her. he was beginning to forget why he hated her in high school.

As he walked in the suite he noticed Sharpay sitting on the couch reading her chemistry book. She was wearing sweats and a T-shirt with her hair in a messy bun. He never saw her more beautiful before.

"I thought I would never see the site of Sharpay Evans studying . It is a chemistry textbook too.

"Shut up, I'm not stupid," she said as she closed the book in front of her.

"I know, you were my fellow closet brain with. I'm just shocked to see you doing it out in the open."

"High schools over and we don't have to be who everybody thought we were. We can be ourselves. I'm tired of playing the role of the ice Queen bitch. I seriously doubt you want to reprise your role as the understudy to the big Man on campus." Chad found her words shocking. However, he could hear the truth in them. Maybe he didn't have to be who he was in high school, a closeted brain that stayed in Troy's shadow. Maybe he could be himself. Is that not what college is all about?

20 minutes later he joined her on the couch with his calculus book. This year he would be himself.


	6. Chad, Where’s My Bra? Part One

**Update 11/26/2009: This is the new Chapter 6**

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Warning/summary: Binge drinking is bad. Underage binge drinking is even worse. Getting smashed on fruit punch without realizing it is 70% alcohol is the absolute worst. Sharpay+ alcohol = ?

**Chapter 6: Chad, Where's My Bra? Part One**

**Saturday morning**

Sharpay was having that dream again. The one when she as the beautiful Princess was saved from an extremely dangerous situation by the Prince. Sometimes he would save her from her wicked stepmother, who always looked like her actual mother Darby. Other times he would save her from her abusive lover the wicked Lord Richard. Last night her Prince charming saved her from the clutches of the evil princess of the West Kingdom, who tried to poison her.

When she first started having these dreams, the prince was always Troy. He would ride to her rescue on a beautiful horse saving her from the abuses of Lord Richard. When she started dating Zeke he became her prince and he would save her from the evil step mom who didn't love her. Last night she had a new Prince. His skin was a light brown and he had long curly hair that he kept in a ponytail. She couldn't see his face because it was covered by a mask. She could only see his beautiful brown eyes that could look into her soul.

So grateful for him saving her from the evil Princess of the West Kingdom, she rewarded him with a kiss. This was not a gentle kiss on the cheek or a light brushing of lips that she normally gave the Prince that rescued her. This was a kiss filled with passion, love, and a hint of lust. It was the type of kiss that stole your breath away and made your heart beat a thousand times a minute. In her dream Sharpay could not get enough of her beautiful Prince. He made her feel completely comfortable and loved. Just as she was about to take his mask off to see who her Prince truly was she woke up from her sleep by a loud noise from the hallway.

Upon waking the peace she experienced in the dream was replaced by a pounding headache and the extreme urge to throw up. The first thing she noticed as she began to open her eyes was that her sheets were blue with little basketballs on them. For a moment she wondered how anybody could find basketball sheets that could fit an extra long twin bed. Then she remembered her sheets were purple with little flowers embroidered on the edges. She would never own anything with orange in it, it was her least favorite color in the world.

Next she noticed the light was coming from the wrong side of the room. Her window was next to her bed, not on the other side of the room. The walls were a crisp white, not the pale rose color that she fought for all summer to have. Instead of her autograph posters from various Broadway shows such as _Rent_ and Spring Awakening (that were not destroyed by Drusilla) above her bed, she was surrounded by images of Lebron and Kobe. Of course the final clue that she was definitely not in her bedroom was the photographs of Chad and Taylor at prom. For some reason the site of the two together made her unbelievably nauseous. Before she knew what was happening she ran straight for the nearest bathroom.

* * *

If Sharpay wasn't in a complete haze, she would realize that she just ran to the boy's bathroom of her sweet in nothing but a pair of panties and an oversized East High gym class T-shirt. If Sharpay was more aware of her surroundings she would have heard the whispers from her suite mates as she ran into the boy's bathroom to throw up.

"Walk of shame," whispered Nikki from Room 626.

"I knew those two were screwing," Whispered Marc from room 615.

"There was too much tension for that. Last night was probably the first time," said Amanda from Room 625.

Just as the conversation ceased, a very sleepy Chad walked out into the hallway carrying a bottle of water and a bathrobe. "Have any of you guys seen Sharpay?" Chad questioned the trio.

"Your girlfriend is currently praying to the porcelain gods." Nikki said as they all heard the distinctive sound of someone throwing up.

**

* * *

**

Tuesday morning

Chad's second day of college was already going better than the first. He actually made it to his first class without running into Penelope one-time. Unfortunately, at the end of his first class Penelope was waiting for him in the hallway. Desperately trying to avoid the girl and convince her that his lie yester day was the complete truth, he grabbed Sharpay by the hand.

"Sorry Penelope we have to get to class. We don't want to be late for class Pay Pay" Chad said as they ran out the door.

"What was that about? Why did you call me Pay Pay?" Sharpay asked him without making a move to let go of his hand.

"Deliberately misleading her so she will get the hint."

"You do remember I chased after Troy even though we were both with other people right?"

"But you're ruthless and you were chasing Troy for the sake of chasing him. You enjoyed the challenge of the whole situation. He was one of the few people that was nice to you and at the time you thought it was something more. At least that's what you said in your project paper last night." Chad said in response.

"You read my project paper?"

"You left it on your screen and besides I was going to read it eventually."

"Whenever, if you want me to pretend to be your girlfriend to scare off the little girl that's fine. I can use an acting challenge the semester to keep my skills up. Pretending to be your girlfriend will definitely be a challenge. But we do it my way." Sharpay said as they walked in to the classroom. "How did we end up in so many classes together?" Chad asked.

"Probably because we registered at the same time," Sharpay said in response. As they walked through the door a shrieking voice came towards them and envelop Sharpay in a hug.

"Kim what are you doing here? I thought you were still going to school in New York. You didn't send me an e-mail about this." Sharpay said in surprise.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. Some things happened in NYC and daddy dearest felt it would be best if I finish up college in New Mexico. So I see that you're now on speaking terms with members of the basketball team. Did you become a cheerleader after I graduated and not tell me?" Kim said pointing to the two holding hands.

"Chad is just the friend." Sharpay said as she let go of his hand not realizing they stayed holding hands the entire way to class.

"Sure," Kim said in a way that made you know she didn't believe what you just said.

"A lot changed after you graduated. The click system of East high was destroyed by a simple act of breaking free." Chad said to the confused girl.

"Troy Bolton joined the drama club," Sharpay added.

"Mr. Basketball-is-my-life Troy Bolton switched allegiances to the drama club. Never saw that one coming." Kim said in shock.

"He stayed on the basketball team as well. He starred in the last three musicals and did a community theater production this summer." Sharpay continued to say.

"He is actually a really good performer." Chad said to the group.

"Where is he anyway? I thought it was your dream for the two of you to go to college together." Kim said pointing to Chad. How did Kim know that?

"Berkeley," the two answered in unison.

"What?" asked a very upset Kim.

"His girlfriend is at Stanford University and he couldn't bear to be away from her." Sharpay responded in a extremely sarcastic voice. "So he took a basketball scholarship at Berkeley to be closer to her. He is now a theater major." No one noticed Kim break a pencil when Sharpay said this.

Their conversation was disrupted by their professor walking into the room. "Quiet everyone, please take your seats. I am your instructor for this Introduction to American cinema course.

"We will have to catch up later. Maybe we can go to lunch Thursday because I don't have a class after this one on that day" Kim said to Sharpay as she took her seat in the back of the classroom.

"Maybe," Sharpay said in response to Kim.

As their conversation stop Chad noticed Sharpay entire body become rigid as someone entered the classroom late. He turned around to see Sharpay's ex-boyfriend Richard Johnson enter the classroom. Within seconds Sharpay was holding his hand again.

**

* * *

**

Thursday afternoon

On Thursday afternoon the two old friends decided to have lunch together after class. It was the first time in almost a week that Sharpay was not eating a meal with Chad. He even managed to get her to go in the cafeteria four times this week and she hated the cafeteria. That's why the two were eating at a café outside of campus.

"You know you could have brought your boyfriend with you. I would love to know the guy who melted the heart of the ice Princess of East high." Kim ask Sharpay as she began to eat her salad.

"That's going to take a while." Sharpay said with a laugh. "Chad is just the friend."

"I don't believe that. There's just something. Even in high school when you guys were at each other's throats there was this connection that everyone could see."

"He has a girlfriend. There's no chance that we can be together because he hates me and I hate him." Sharpay said in her defense.

"If your friends, then you don't hate each other anymore. Now I can believe you're angry at Chad because he has a girlfriend."

"I'm giving up on boys for a while. Between the breakup with Zeke, my boyfriend from senior year, and the trauma from Richard during sophomore year, I need a break.

"Are you going to be okay with Richard being in our film class?"

"If he tries to do what he did before, I'll shove one of my stiletto shoes in his crotch."

"Does Chad know what he did to you?"

"Only you, Daddy, and my therapists know what happened. I didn't even tell Ryan about the incident. I'm over it Kim. He's not going to impact my life anymore."

"Good, and why don't we change the subject before we start crying and talking about how evil men are?"

"Works for me,"

"I'm having a bit of a returning to New Mexico party at my house Friday night. Maybe you and your "friend" Chad could join us?"

"You know I hate wild parties with alcohol and everything else. Dad is pushing the new underage drinking policy at A of U. One shot of me holding the infamous red cup on the Internet and the entire policy will be ruined."

"It's not going to be that wild. I promised to buy different cups and I will prepare your special fruit punch that is virginal and sugar-free."

"I'll think about it. Now tell me what happened with you and Alex in New York. I have to live vicariously through you because I'm stuck here for the next four years."

"It's a bit overrated. I'm definitely looking forward to finishing up school here."

**

* * *

**

Friday

It was a very long day for Sharpay who spent most of the day and orientation meetings about her teacher's aide position at East high. She was expecting to still be diva of the drama department. Instead Ms. Darbus was her boss and would make sure Sharpay would not take over the student productions. She was there to teach not to putherself in the play. It was going be a very long semester.

That is why Sharpay decided to go to Kim's party with Chad, when she realized Penelope was going to be there. It would be the perfect opportunity to put their act on for the annoying little girl. Right now Sharpay stood on the sidelines watching Chad dance as she consumed her special fruit punch. For someone who said they didn't dance he was very good. As she watched Penelope approach him. She took that as her cue to interrupt the pair. She placed her cup on the coffee table and walked over to the pair.

"I hate to interrupt but do you mind if I dance with my boyfriend?" She said as she led Chad away from Penelope.

As the two began to dance Sharpay whispered in Chad's ear, "It's time for our performance to begin." With that her lips were on his before he was aware of what was happening.

Sharpay enjoyed putting on a wonderful performance for her audience of one. It had been too long since she had the opportunity to truly test her acting abilities. This was definitely not a stage kiss. Most stage kisses she experienced in the past, did not involve exchange of saliva or groping. So caught up in the kiss, she didn't see the three shots of vodka being added to her cup.

**

* * *

**

Saturday morning

Sharpay sat on the cool tiles of the floor. Her head was pounding and her stomach did not feel any better after she emptied the contents in the toilet. She finally realized that she was in nothing but a T-shirt. A T-shirt that definitely was not hers. How did she end up in Chad's bedroom?

She knew it was his bedroom because of the photographs of Taylor on the nightstand. She didn't remember anything after "pretending" to kiss Chad in front of Penelope. Than the thought suddenly hit her she woke up in Chad's bed in a T-shirt. What if she and he…Taylor was going to kill her. She may kill her anyway for making out with her boyfriend the night before. Even though they were pretending.

"Sharpay, I brought you a bottle of water, some Tylenol, and a bathrobe so you don't flash our suite mates again." Because of his actions, she knew instinctively that this was not a repeat of the Richard incident. She trusted him too much to even think he would do something like that to her. That helped her to calm down a bit.

"Thank you," she said taking the items from him.

After cleaning up a bit she walked back into his room without saying a word to pick up her clothes and sneak back to her own bedroom without the gossiping trio noticing her state of undress.

"What happened last night?" She finally asked.

"You don't remember anything?" He said with concern and a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"Nothing after pretending to kiss you," She said as she began to pick up her close from the floor of his bedroom. As each second pass she began to believe more and more that she did something really stupid with him the night before.

"Which time?"

"What do you mean which time? How many times did we kiss yesterday?"

"At least six, but I'm not sure. After a while it started to blend together a bit.

"Oh my god what did we do last night?" Sharpay said in a panic as she became aware that one very important article of clothing was missing from the pile in her hands.

"Anymore questions before I continue with the story?"

"Just one. Chad, where's my bra?"


	7. Chad, Where’s My Bra? Part TWO

Update 11/26/2009: This is the new Chapter 7

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I know it has been a while. Thank you to everyone who has been waiting patiently. I have had severe writer's block for the last few weeks, however, I am over it now. This chapter is around 5000 words. I hope that makes up for the long wait.

Reminder this story takes place in 2008. That will be imported later on.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to HSM or any of the songs mentioned in this chapter. All recognizable characters or songs belong to the original writers or copyright holders. This is purely for entertainment purposes.

This chapter is rating **M**.

**Chapter 7: Chad, where's my bra? Part II**

"Chad where's my bra?" Chad was completely shock by her question. He Should have known better. Of all the questions she could have asked him about, she asked about an article of clothing. Only Sharpay would be more concerned about an article of missing clothing than anything else.

"You're missing your keys, your cell phone, and your wallet from that pile of clothing in your hands. Yet you ask about your bra?" Chad responded in exasperation.

"It is a $300 custom-made bra with my initials in the design that fits perfectly. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent bra when you are an abnormal size?" Sharpay said in a whiny voice as she sat down on the bed she used the night before.

She did not have to describe the lacy article of clothing. He received an excellent view of said item when it landed on his head the night before. However, he would never tell her that.

Other than her panicking about her memory loss, he was happy that she did not remember anything from the night before. He really hoped she would not regain her memory of her final performance. The images of the night before would forever be in his mind. He would be taking ice cold showers for the next month.

He found it ironic that the first mostly naked female body he ever saw in person was Sharpay Evans. Another thing he would never tell Taylor. He could not think about that right now. He needed to focus on the situation at hand which was the extremely irrational Sharpay on the verge of cracking up.

"Considering all the other things you can ask about, you are asking me questions about an article of clothing. Did anyone ever tell you that your priorities are very skewed Evans?"

"It is a very important article of clothing. If I knew where it was then maybe I would have an ideal of what you and I did last night." The panic was back in hervoice again and this time it was worse.

"Nothing happened Sharpay." Chad said defensively. That was not completely accurate. Something happened the night before, but not _that_. If he were a weaker person, it probably would have. The situation had been _very_ tempting. He would not do that to Sharpay and he would never treat Taylor like Zeke treated Sharpay.

"We kissed at least six times last night and there is a giant hickey on your neck. I am sure I have one to match. That is so not anything." Sharpay said almost screaming as she pointed out the obvious.

"We were performing for Penelope." He said trying to make himself and Sharpay believe that to be the truth. Even if he was starting to have some doubts about what really happened the night before at this point. However, this is the version of the truth he will tell Sharpay now and Taylor later when she comes to visit him during the second weekend of October. In the interest of self-preservation, he would keep the details of the night before to himself and hopefully Taylor and Sharpay will never find out.

He knew that Sharpay would not say anything even if she remembered. The two girls were not friends. There would not be 3:00 AM phone calls to gossip about the latest things happening between these two. They could barely stand each other in high school. This probably made the situation even worse.

It was not as if they were planning on anything happening. Nothing happened - it really was all just an act for Penelope. That is what he needed to believe and convince Sharpay of right now before she fainted. The fact that he initiated a kiss when they were alone in his bedroom was completely irrelevant. It didn't matter that Sharpay put on a personal 'performance' for him that was better than anything he could find on the Internet. In Sharpay's alcohol influenced mind she was just doing in acting exercise or maybe dancing to a certain song.

"If you're acting skills were _that_ good in junior year no one could have stood a chance against you. I almost believed it was real." To him it did feel real. Her kisses felt like fire and ice together. It was unlike anything he ever experienced before.

"Thank you, I knew the work at the community theater this summer would pay off." She said as she sat on his bed. "But back to the matter at hand, what happened last night?"

"I know you are scared right now. However, I'm not like that prick Richard who took something that you didn't want to give. I'm not like Zeke who betrayed you with Penelope. I know we are just starting not to hate each other. However, I am your friend Sharpay. I will not hurt you." He said walking over towards her and sitting next to her on his bed.

"I know I trust you, it is just... Wait how do you know about Richard and Zeke?" Sharpay question Chad.

"I have my sources. Also, you're very talkative when you're drunk. I have no idea you wanted me in handcuffs and a police uniform so badly." For the first time ever Sharpay Evans was completely speechless.

**

* * *

**

Thursday afternoon

Chad quietly sat in one of the somewhat decent cafeterias on campus picking at his deli sandwich. It was his first meal in almost six days without Sharpay. It seemed strange to be in the cafeteria without her. He realized he had been holding onto her for dear life this first week.

He knew he needed to make new friends. He just did not want to make the same type of friends he had in high school. He was tired of pretending to be the dumb jock. He could not understand how anybody bought the act. He was taking AP Biology in the 10th grade. As he was starting to learn from Sharpay, people only see the person that you want them to see.

There was more going on with Sharpay than the mountain lion ice queen persona. Right now the two biggest questions about the real Sharpay involved Zeke and Richard. Today in film class the moment Richard tried to speak with her, she went completely rigid and Kim threatened him with a painful death. Sharpay would not tell him what was going on, but he knew Kim would. Unfortunately, the two were together now, which was the cause of Chad eating alone in the cafeteria. He was just happy Penelope had class right now. He could not stand the girl.

Thoughts of Penelope made him wonder if what she said about Zeke was true. Right now was the perfect opportunity for him to call Zeke. He knew that he could not trust anything that came out Penelope's mouth. Therefore, before he could even think about changing his mind he pressed number six on his phone.

"Long time no call," answered Zeke on the other side of the phone.

"It has only been two weeks. How is Chicago?" Chad responded back.

"Chicago is definitely different from New Mexico, but I like it here. Classes are much more difficult than high school. I miss free period." Chad chuckled at that. Although he missed free period, in truth, Chad did not find college that much more difficult academically than high school. Maybe because he has been taking AP classes and doing college level worked for most of high school.

"I haven't found the class work more difficult." Chad responded to Zeke.

"That's because you're probably taking Mickey Mouse classes like you did in high school." Chad did not know whether to be happy that his friends bought his stupid act so well or upset that they did not believe him to be as intelligent as he actually was. For example in 10th grade most of his friends believed he was not in algebra II because he was behind. In reality, he was taking trigonometry with Kim. However, that is okay if he could fool them then, he could fool Zeke again into confessing his sins against Sharpay.

"Trust me my pre calculus class is much more difficult than Classical French Cooking 101. By the way guess who's in my math class?" In reality Chad was actually taking Calculus B but Zeke wouldn't believe that.

"Probably Sharpay, however, I don't see how she or you for that matter can be taking pre calculus. How is my ice queen ex girlfriend doing anyway? Is she just as frigid as before?" Zeke's comment just pissed Chad off. Instead of reacting he bit his tongue and continued with his plan.

"She is definitely less frigid than high school. I think the lack of peroxide is helping tremendously, as well as, being away from stupid conceded idiots. She is actually on my floor in the dorms. However, I am talking about Penelope."

"From West High?"

"Yes that Penelope. I am sure you know her well. She has been chasing me around all week."

"Very fun person. Just be careful, if Taylor finds out you may never be able to have children." From the way that Zeke said fun made Chad almost positive of the truth of Penelope statements.

"I'm sure Sharpay would have done worse to you if you did something with Penelope behind her back."

"Yes, but that's why Sharpay never found out." Chad could not believe Zeke confessed without any coaching.

"You were with Penelope?" Chad asked to clarify.

"Several times," Zeke said it so smugly that Chad wanted to reach through the phone and strangle him.

"You didn't care that you cheated on Sharpay?"

"Why should I care? She chased Troy around like a lost puppy the entire time we were together. Besides, she wouldn't give me what I wanted and Penelope would"

"Sharpay was not trying to get with Troy after you and hergot together. She just wanted a new acting partner." Chad said in Sharpay's defense.

"How would you know that?"

"I just do. I have to leave for class in few minutes. I'll talk to you later." Chad said not giving Zeke time to reply before he slammed his phone shut. That afternoon in chemistry class, Chad fantasized about the many ways he could break Zeke in half.

**

* * *

**

Friday night 10:30 PM

"Your acting skills are improving. Wonderful performance Sharpay I almost believed it was real. However, like Chad is really your boyfriend." Penelope said in a voice that made Sharpay want to kill her. "Why would a guy like that be with a bitch like you? You are a shallow brat who would not know how to show a man a good time if you tried. He's a god and you are nothing. You could not keep your last boyfriend from straying. It was my name he screamed in the boys' locker room last winter when I made him come."

As the little girl continued to speak, Sharpay could only see red. Did Zeke actually cheat on her with this slut? For some reason she knew Penelope's putdowns were more than just talk.

"I'm sure 15 minutes with me and Chad won't even remember your name." For some reason she wouldn't understand or remember later, Penelope's words about Chad spark something within her that was beyond anger. Even if Chad was not really her boyfriend, she wouldn't let the evil one get anywhere near her Chad.

"Why would Chad ever want someone like you Penelope, when he has me? Not all relationships are about sex. Unlike your usual prey, Chad needs someone who can use multi syllable words." Before she finished talking, Sharpay was walking to Chad for the second time that night.

She needed to prove to Penelope once and for all that Chad was hers even if in reality he was Taylor's love. This would be the greatest performance of Sharpay's life. Within seconds, she was with Chad again. Before he knew, what was going on she pressed him up against the nearest wall and began to kiss him with such passion that he couldn't breathe. One hand was in his hair while the other one held him in place against the wall.

When she finally moved from his lips to his neck, he finally found his voice. "Sharpay what are you doing?"

"Convincing her that this is real," Sharpay whispered in his ear as she continued to touch him.

"Yes but most stage kisses don't look like the parties involved are about to take each other's clothes off. They also do not involve that much tongue," he said in a breathy whisper.

"She was fucking Zeke while we were dating."

"I know," was all he said as his mouth merge with hers once more.

**

* * *

**

Saturday morning 12:55 AM

Chad stood in the back of the room drinking his second beer of the evening. Sharpay was currently on stage singing a very disturbing version of _Wake Up Call _by Maroon 5. The performance was complete with the mutilation of a teddy bear. Standing next to him Kim was filming the entire incident for posterity and possibly blackmail.

"I can't believe she got in to Alex's toy chest. That's his favorite teddy bear."

"Who is Alex? Is he your brother or something?"

"Something like that," she answered noncommittally. "The only reason why I'm not mad is she has no idea she is drunk right now.

"What do you mean she is drunk? All she drank was that sugar-free punch."

"Apparently my roommate believes Crystal Light should be made with vodka. No one can get that buzzed off of artificial sweetener." As he turned back to the stage/tabletop he noticed Sharpay stumbling around as she continued to sing.

"You go get the coffee; I will get her off the stage." Chad said as he ran to the makeshift karaoke stage.

"How am I going to get a no fat soy latte at 1 AM? She will not drink normal coffee even if she is drunk." Kim said to the retreating Chad.

**

* * *

**

Saturday morning 1:45 AM

"I can't believe you talked me into walking her back to the dorms. I also cannot believe you are taping this. If you put this on the internet Sharpay will kill you." Chad said as Sharpay continued to sing and dance her way across campus. Currently she was singing a very unusual version of Michael Jackson's _Who Is It_. Sharpay was inserting Penelope's name in the chorus and making comments like, "it would make more sense if it was Ryan". Of course he only paid attention to that 'I am so lonely' line. That part broke his heart.

"I'm taping this because there's no way Sharpay will believe what happened without evidence. No, I will not post this on the Internet. Besides, there is no way I am letting you behind the wheel of my car. We both had a few drinks and you are still under age. Also, the only person who's allowed to vomit in my car is Alex." Chad wanted to ask about Kim's brother throwing up in her car, but thought better of it.

"How could she know this song? It came out when we were two."

"Good music lasts forever. Sharpay probably has the choreography of every single Michael Jackson video ever made memorized. She could moonwalk at three. That is how she won her first Start Dazzle Award. Besides he is kind of a kindred spirit for her. They both grew up in a similar way. Do you really think it was Ryan and Sharpay's idea to have choreographer's and musicians on call? That was all Darby. She was trying to recapture her lost opportunity to be a performer. Darby wouldn't stop screaming for a week when Sharpay lost the lead in the musical junior year. Be happy she hasn't started singing _Have You Seen My Childhood_. That will just make you cry."

Just then Sharpay began singing that song. "You just had to make a suggestion didn't you?" Chad said in annoyance.

"I didn't know she was listening. She is in her 'all the world's a stage' state of mind. She is probably thinking this is all one big performance piece. Just enjoy the performance."

Fortunately for both of them Sharpay stop singing when they reached Evans fountain

"When I was little I wanted to run around the sprinklers like all the other kids. Mommy said it was not Evans like. She's not here right now." Before he even knew what she was doing Sharpay ran into the fountain and began to splash around in the water.

"Is there enough water in there for her to drown?" asked Kim in worry.

"It is possible to drown in 3 inches of water." Chad said as he walked over to Sharpay before she slipped and fell into the water or finely went unconscious.

"Sharpay if you come out of there I promise I'll set up Alex's Slip and Slide tomorrow at my house." Kim said in her best mom voice.

"No, I want to play now. Besides Chad is my not-a-boyfriend tonight. I think you should come in here with me." Before he could react Sharpay's lips were on his as she tried to move him into the fountain. Unfortunately, Chad was so distracted by the not-a-kiss that he lost his balance and went straight into the water in the fountain still attached to Sharpay at the lips.

"I just want to let you two know, that this is so going on my Facebook page once you two get a clue. Just friends, yeah right." Kim said as she continued to film the pair in the fountain.

**

* * *

**

Saturday Morning 2:30 AM

It was 2:30 AM when a soaking wet Chad finally made it to his dorm room with a very drunk Sharpay. Kim was on the phone in the common room yelling at someone for some unknown reason. Maybe she was trying to figure out what happened to Sharpay's dorm room keys. There was no way he was going to wake up there RA at 2:30 AM to let a completely smashed Sharpay into her room. He was not crazy or stupid. If they did not find the keys, he would just let her stay in his room until she was sober.

Sharpay was currently looking at the photographs on his nightstand. she was still too intoxicated to realize that she was standing in his room, soaking wet. Whoever spiked the drink was going to die a very slow and painful death. He knew she did not take anything intentionally, because that was not her style.

Chad had always believed the Sharpay's moods were sporadic when she was sober, but the alcohol magnified the situation by 10. She kept switching between extremely happy and childlike to practically breaking down in tears.

"You must love and want Taylor. Zeke did not want me. He said I was not very sexy. I could be sexy. I am very sexy." Apparently the picture triggered a more melancholy time.

"You're a very beautiful person in all ways. Zeke is a complete idiot for choosing her over you. I would choose your over her every time. I rather pretend to be you lover, than actually be with Penelope.

"That's because you love Taylor. No one loves me." Okay maybe he should not have said that. He hoped she did not start crying again. He would not tell her that he did not love Taylor. Only tonight could he even confess that truth to himself.

"That's not true. You are very lovable." He sat her on his bed and went over to his dresser and pulled out an oversize east high gym class t-shirt for her and pajamas for himself.

"Troy did not love me; he hung his precious little Gabriella. She's so bake, it's not funny." Her speech was getting more slurred and sporadic. He expected her to pass out any minute.

"I think you mean fake." He pointed out to her.

"That too, Zeke didn't love me. Not enough to accept that I wasn't ready for certain things."

"What things?" He wanted to keep her talking and conscious until Kim got back.

"What Richard did to me."

"What did Richard do?" He knew she would never tell him what occurred if she was sober. He needed know why the mere mention of that person made her sick and Kim refused to tell him when he talked to her earlier. Sharpay told him many things tonight that she would never admit to under normal circumstances.

"Do you remember the spring dance sophomore year?"

He nodded in agreement. He remembered that spring dance very well. For some unknown reason Troy didn't show up. However, Chad did leave with the head cheerleader, a junior name Bianca. That was definitely a fun evening.

"Richard didn't love me; he just wanted to fuck me. I did not want to be someone I did not love. But he put something in my drink at the spring dance." She was crying so hard she could not finish.

She did not have to finish, he knew exactly what she was trying to say. He remembered what Richard said in the boys' locker room the next week. Richard was so proud of himself being the first one with the diva of East High. It wasn't until junior year when she kept everyone at arm's length she became known as the "Ice Princess". Now he understood why she pushed everyone away. He remembered her being missing the rest of that year and no one knew why, not even Ryan. Now he knew why.

He felt sorry for calling her "Mountain Lion" and "Country Club Princess". In class next Tuesday, he was going to put the fear of Chad into that excuse for a human being. In November, Zeke will be eating his Turkey through a straw.

Instead of responding to her verbally, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips and let her cry in his arms for a few moments. He did not think about the fact that they were alone this time. He just wanted to make her feel better. He could not take the tears much longer and decided that maybe a little music would bring back shiny happy Sharpay. He ended up with Stripper /sexy acting exercise Sharpay. The first song on his MP3 player was an old song by Ludacris called _What's Your Fantasy_.

**Saturday morning present**

* * *

"I didn't drink anything besides the diet fruit punch and bottle water last night. You know I do not drink beer or hard liquor. I loved Kim to death, but she couldn't pick a decent wine at a vineyard in France."

"Apparently you have an affinity for very hard fruit punch. You woke up in someone else's room with no memory of the night before; you have a horrible headache, and you spent the last 20 minutes regurgitating dinner in the bathroom. Those are all classic signs of a hangover." Chad said pointing out the obvious to Sharpay. She knew he was right; she just did not want to admit he was right.

A knock at the door broke the two away from their conversation.

"I see sleeping beauty has awoken from her sleep of the intoxicated and it's only 10:30 AM. By the way you should really remember to lock your door."

"What are you doing here Kim?" Sharpay asked her friend.

"Just making sure you two are not molesting each other, after last night's little performance. I know you tell me you were faking it, but that was quite a show. If that was not real, both of you deserve an Oscar for that performance." Sharpay could deftly pick up the sarcasm.

"My head hurts too much for this conversation." Sharpay said as she put her head in her hands. "I think I am going to throw up again."

"Well that's what you get for drinking so much the night before."

"I didn't drink anything besides the fruit punch. Would anybody like to explain to me how I got drunk on virginal fruit punch?"

"Because your drink was about as virginal as Penelope." Chad added from the side.

"You broke the first rule of college partying: never leave your drink unattended. You of all people should know to watch out for that sort of thing. It was probably vodka or another alcohol that wouldn't change the taste that much. You'd better be glad it wasn't Rohypnol again."

"I didn't leave my drink unattended. You know how paranoid I am after what happened with Richard. I even requested my lunch in high school be made separately because I was afraid of someone slipping something in. I'm not going to leave my drink sitting out there…" all of a sudden Sharpay remembered leaving her drink on the coffee table when she went to scare off Penelope the first time.

"This is all your fault Danforth." Sharpay screamed.

"How is it my fault?"

"If I was not so distracted by kissing you, I would've remembered to throw out my drink."

"Very freshman mistake, however, it could happen to anyone. Besides, I'm pretty sure that the entire pitcher was compromised after your first drink. I'm just glad you followed the second rule of college partying: never go to a party alone. Be very happy that your knight in shining basketball gear over here and I stayed with you all night and kept players like Richard from stealing your panties.

"My bra is missing anyway." Sharpay said sarcastically

"Why are you so obsessed about a bra?" Chad responded.

"Don't worry about it. He probably stashed it somewhere. Because I've been one of your friends for forever, I knew you wouldn't believe us unless everything was on film. This memory stick contains the best from last night. My personal favorite performance was when you decide to swim in Evans fountain just because it was Friday or was it actually Saturday. It all started to get blurry at that point."

"You owe me a cell phone for throwing me in the fountain." Chad said to Sharpay causing Sharpay to bury her head under Chad's pillow.

"Also, you owe me for destroying Alex's teddy bear. Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be to get him to sleep tonight without his teddy bear? I brought your keys on the way to pick up Alex from my dad. However, your wallet is still missing so you might want to cancel your credit cards."

"You tell me this now." Sharpay said in exasperation.

"I was going to tell you that, however, you kept asking about what happened to your bra. I thought Alex was your brother. Why is he staying at your apartment?"

"Alex is not her brother, he is her son." Sharpay answered quickly for her friend.

"Sharpay, why don't you go change and cancel your credit cards."

Of course, instead of getting dressed right away Sharpay put the memory stick into her computer and pulled up one of the files to watch while she got dressed.

* * *

"Why did you lie about Alex?" Chad asked a few minutes after Sharpay left the room.

"I did not lie, I just wasn't specific. I love my child. I'm just not very proud about the circumstances surrounding the conception. An 18 year old hooking up with a 15 year old was not a very good decision. I just don't want everybody to know about it." The last part was said in a whisper.

"So Alex dad is…"

"A member of the East high class of 2008 and that's all you're getting out of me."

"Come on tell me. I can keep a secret." Just as Chad was finishing his statement they could hear Sharpay screaming down the hall.

"I knew she wasn't going to wait to look at the files."

"Was there a file about what you walked in on last night?"

"I'm not that suicidal. Regrettably I may have included the file of Penelope dumping vodka into Sharpay fruit punch."

"You were filming that and you didn't keep it from happening." Chad yelled at Kim.

"Don't yell at me. I just discovered the file this morning. I accidentally left the camera running last night when I left it on the table to get something to drink. I'm not used to this camera yet. We can talk about this later, once we prevent Penelope's death."

"Do I have to?" Chad said in the whiniest voice ever.

"Don't try that whiny voice with me; I have an 18 month old child. I am well trained. I'll be right behind you."

As Kim left the room to help keep Sharpay from a meeting with the judiciaries committee, she accidentally stumbled upon a black bra in the corner. The same location she saw Chad throw the bra the night before on video file. She would never tell the two she accidentally left her camera on when she was making a few phone calls that morning. "These two are so not friends," Kim said to herself as she placed the item in question in the spare dresser.

A/N: I hope everyone caught the Michael Jackson reference in this chapter. I definitely think he would be somebody that Sharpay would idolize because he was a very dedicated performer like her.

In the big picture, I do not think HSM would be the same without Michael Jackson. I remember last October when I first saw HSM3; I told all my friends at the movie theater that many of the scenes, such as _The Boys are Back_, were very Michael Jackson. Though he is gone, his art will live on. As Kim said, "good music lasts forever."


	8. Lies My BFF Told Me

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

**Chapter eight: Lies My BFF Told Me**

Sharpay was so happy that the longest weekend in her entire life was over. After surviving what Kim was referring to as the 'not so virginal punch incident', most things were going back to normal. After seeing the footage of Penelope pouring three shots of vodka into her punch, Sharpay walked out of her dorm room with the intention breaking Penelope into pieces. Unfortunately, the witch in question was not there. Fortunately, she did forget to lock her room. Sharpay satisfied her bloodlust by ripping the head off of Penelope's favorite teddy bear and left the decapitated bears head on the evil princess's pillow.

Kim and Chad arrived just in time to keep her from going for another stuffed animal. The two were afraid that she would go after Penelope again. They wouldn't leave her alone all weekend. After picking up Alex from her parents, or rather her step mom's home she brought him over to hang out and study. Before the weekend, Sharpay only saw a few pitchers of the beautiful little boy with piercing blue eyes. Sharpay was sure that she saw these eyes before, but she couldn't remember where.

Kim was very protective of Alex, which explains why Kim yelled at her for 20 minutes this morning for telling Chad the truth. Kim never told Sharpay who Alex's father was. Kim did not even tell Sharpay she was pregnant until she called a week after the Twinkle Towne auditions to tell her that she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on the day East High won the state championship. Chad and Sharpay spent half of Saturday night looking through old yearbooks trying to guess Alex is paternity. So far the only person they were absolutely sure was not the father was Chad.

If she thought Kim was overprotective, Chad was 10 times worse. She should've known he would be that way after his reaction at Lava Springs when she tried to take Troy away. Chad spent the entire weekend with her working on their project together or studying for his individual classes in her room. He even slept in the spare bed in her room Saturday and Sunday night so that he could keep an eye on her at _all _times. This morning he walked her to her pre calculus class in hopes of avoiding another clash between her and Penelope. Thankfully, for all parties involved Penelope decided to take a different class.

Sharpay could not decide if she loved or hated his over protectiveness. She loved that she finally had another friend that cared about her so much even after just a few weeks. Other than Kim, Chad was quickly becoming the only person she could be herself around. She never felt more comfortable around a person in her entire life, even at after the awkwardness of Friday night. Other than the occasional dirty joke, they really didn't talk about what happen.

The problem was Sharpay was still trying to figure out how she felt about him. She knew she didn't hate him anymore. She was not even sure if she ever hated him. The issue was she was not sure if she just liked him as a friend or wanted something more. Even though she was under the influence of high amounts of alcohol, she remembered how she felt every time she kissed him. It was the most exhilarating experience of her entire life. She loved kissing him, especially those last kisses that occurred when they were completely alone in his room with no audience.

She didn't want a repeat of the entire Troy fiasco. She didn't want to fall in love with someone who was in love with someone else again. Especially someone who already had a girlfriend he was probably in love with. After the Richard incident and Zeke's infidelity, maybe it would be better if she just keep Chad in the friend category. How can your heart get broken if you don't even try?

In the interest of keeping things in the friends category with Chad, she decided to show up to his room with his replacement cell phone and take away from his favorite restaurant. The fact that she changed into a completely different outfit and spent 5 minutes touching up her makeup was completely irrelevant. She told herself the reason why she wanted to change was because a certain high school junior grabbed her ass during her volunteer session at East High and she needed to get the scent of geek off her.

She didn't even bother knocking on Chad's door, instead she just walked in. Currently Chad was sitting on his bed listening to his iPod as he did his English homework. He did not even notice her until she sat on his bed.

"You know most normal people knock Sharpay. I could've been changing." Chad said as he removed his headphones.

"Most normal people lock their doors. Considering you spent the entire weekend in my room against my wishes I have the right to walk into your room anytime I want and see you topless. Besides I know you were the one that put me in that T-shirt Friday night. It's only fair you returned the favor." As soon as she mentioned the T-Shirt incident, he started to squirm. She'd loved messing with his mind.

"You were trying to kill Penelope this weekend!" Chad practically screamed in his defense.

"I was not trying kill her. I was just going to harm her a little." Sharpay said as she sat next to him on the bed.

"You left an animal head on her bed."

"It wasn't a real." She yelled at him in her defense.

"Whatever Sharpay. Why are you here?"

"Probably boredom and lack of new friends, but I bought goodies from Dominique's and your new cell phone." Sharpay said handing the package to Chad.

"Despite the water damage your SIM card was still good. Unfortunately, anything saved onto the phone itself is gone."

"The phone you damaged was a normal telephone. This is an iPhone. There's no way my insurance cover this."

"Consider it a bride to keep quiet about what you saw this weekend."

"Like the fact you spend more money on your underwear than most people spend on their entire wardrobe."

"Custom underwear is expensive. Not all of us look good pulling a T shirt out of the dirty close hamper."

"You think I look good?"

"God you are so cocky"

"You love it anyway. Thanks for the gift but I don't think I can afford the wireless plan for this."

"You don't have to. Daddy is paying for it."

"Your dad is paying for my cell phone? My dad won't even pay for my cell phone."

"Kim told daddy what happened this weekend. Consider this your thank you gift."

"Apparently she omitted certain things. Otherwise I would be dead right now."

"Daddy likes you. You're the only boyfriend I've ever had that he's liked and you're not even my actual boyfriend." Sharpay said with a pout.

"Your father still believes were dating?"

"Chad the only people on this campus who believe we're not dating are the two of us. By the way, you have 17 missed text messages, 15 of which are from Troy. Is there something about your relationship that I don't know?" Sharpay said with a grin.

"You read my text messages?"

"Of course not. Okay maybe I read the one from Taylor. I mean you didn't call her for three days and she only sense one text message. What type of girlfriend does that? I call you every day now and I live down the hall." Inside her mind, Sharpay knew she would make a much better girlfriend then Taylor.

"The extremely busy type. Gabriella never calls Troy at all during the school week."

"That's because you're always on the phone with him."

"How can I be on the phone with Troy all the time, when I spend most of my free time with you?"

"Like that's a lot of time. This is college. How much free time do we have? After I finish up here I have to read three different essays for English and I do not understand anything from chemistry class. Be glad you had high school chemistry before Mrs. Wilson retired two years ago. The woman that replaced her was clueless. Gabriella used to correct her equations all the time. The person who replaced her during her maternity leave was even worse. I am going to flunk college chemistry because my teachers were incompetent." Sharpay said with her trademark panicking voice.

"I can help you with your chemistry homework." Chad said grabbing his food from the bag.

"Don't you have your own work?"

"There wasn't any practice today, so I actually had time to finish it. I'm just working on the reading for English. I cannot believe he didn't even look at our project."

"He's going to work on it when all of our classmates are doing the same project in a few weeks. When there are working on that project, we will not have to. Can we eat first before we start on homework? Dominique's taste horrible after it has been microwave. "

"We could have eaten dinner in the cafeteria. You don't have to keep buying me stuff."

"I know you don't expect me to get you stuff and that's why I want to. In high school other than Kim, most people were only my friend to get things from me. Even my boyfriend's were with me just to get something. The entire time you were friends with my brother you never ask him to get you something. You liked him for him. So therefore, you like me for me.

"Yes, I like you for you. If you want to get things for me that's fine. But if you start giving out Italian shoes again, I will run the other way screaming."

At that moment they heard Chad cell phone play Eminem's _When I'm Gone._

"Speaking of Mr. Italian shoes," Sharpay muttered under her breath.

"You program ring tones into the phone?"

"I was bored. There was nothing for me to do today except hand out papers to the freshmen."

"You programmed ring tones into a cell phone in Ms. Darbus's class. Are you brave or suicidal?"

"It's not like she can give me detention anymore." Sharpay said as she grabbed Chad's phone to answer it. "Hello, Chad's dorm room."

"Sharpay wear is Chad?"

"Currently he is staring at my chest again. He has this unusual fixation with my breasts. Let me put you on speakerphone." Sharpay said as she adjusted the telephone setting.

"I am not looking at your chest." Chad answered indignantly.

"Children behave. Your are in college now."

"He started it." Sharpay said as she stuck out her tongue at Chad.

Chad where were you this weekend? You didn't respond to my text messages. I've been trying to get a hold of you for the last three days. I even tried the call Sharpay and I didn't get an answer." To Sharpay, Troy almost sounded like one of those TV moms scolding their child. Not that Sharpay's mom would even care to do such a thing."

"I would have called, but my cell phone had an unfortunate accident Friday night."

"Sharpay did your cell phone suffer the same accident?" Troy asked in disbelief at the excuse.

"No I lost mind before Chad fell into the fountain." At that statement they could both hear Troy laughing uncontrollably.

"Do I want to know what happened?" Troy finally asked when he stopped laughing.

"Not really, it involves Sharpay, a water fountain, and high amounts of alcohol." Chad tells this to his friend.

"That was so not my fault. I didn't know I was drunk at the time. Me ruining your cell phone was no excuse. You could have sent an e-mail." Sharpay said as she started to eat her own food.

"Do you realize how much you sound like my mom right now? I was distracted by trying to keep you from smothering Penelope with a pillow."

"Do I want to know why you're trying to kill Penelope? Troy asked Sharpay as he sighed into the phone.

"Not really, it involves Zeke, Penelope's favorite pastime of trying to screw my boyfriend, high amounts of alcohol, and one of Chad's silly plans."

"Kim did get most of the incident on film Friday." Chad said Troy.

"You're not sharing that film with anybody," Sharpay said as she smacked Chad on the shoulder.

"I thought Zeke was in Chicago?" Troy was extremely confused at this point.

"He is. Apparently, during the after party for the big game last year Zeke and Penelope 'celebrated' in the boys' locker room. Actually it turns out he was sleeping with Penelope behind my back for most of senior year. I found out about it Friday night from Penelope and Zeke confirmed it Saturday." She tried her hardest not to show any emotions as she recounted the incident to Troy.

"I'm sorry Sharpay. I'm surprised I haven't heard of a double homicide." She could tell by his tone that he was actually sincere.

"I've been spending the last three days keeping the girls separated. Although, I think Sharpay did get her revenge Friday night." Chad explained to his friend.

"Chad would this have anything to do with the video I received a you at a campus party where you were dancing inappropriately and making out with a very hot brunette who was not your girlfriend. Exactly how much alcohol did you consume Friday night? High amounts of alcohol could only explain why you cheated on your girlfriend." Sharpay could hear Chad's breathing becoming more erratic at Troy's accusations. Sharpay was not afraid of Troy's reaction to the whole thing but rather Chad's. Chad still believed it was all an act. She decided to use a diversion tactic to get their attention away from the real issue.

"Did you just say I was hot? Your girlfriend would be so jealous"

"You died your hair?" Troy said as if he just realized that the girl in question was Sharpay.

"Yes and I looked so much better as a brunette."

"Yes, but my girlfriend is not here right now to be jealous. I go to school 40 miles away from her and I've seen her once in three weeks. Of course, that one time was when I was helping her move into her dorm room." Troy was definitely telling Sharpay there was trouble in paradise. Last year she would have loved nothing more than for the two lovebirds to break up. Now although, she still believed that Troy was way too good for Gabriella, she just wanted him to be happy even if it was not with her. Now if it was Taylor and Chad who were taking the slow train to breakups-ville she would be jumping for joy right now.

"Enough about me. Please explain to me how I have a video in my inbox of the two of you practically having sex on the dance floor Friday night? By the way Sharpay, if you danced like that I may have survived the musical rehearsals intact last spring." Troy said the last part in a joking tone.

"If I dance like that last spring Miss Darbus would have had a heart attack. Although considering what she is going to make me do Friday night I think that would have been okay. That reminds me Chad, I am taking you shopping Thursday. Miss Darbus has drafted me to chaperone the welcome back dance. You are going to come with me. "

"Why do I have to go?" Chad said in a whiny voice.

"You know I hate school dances. You are going with me to keep Jimmy from grabbing my ass again." Both boys started laughing uncontrollably.

"When did he do this?"

"When I was volunteering at East High this afternoon. This is all your fault, Troy. You're the one that told Jimmy I had a crush on him." Sharpay yelled into the phone at Troy.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand? How did I receive a sex tape featuring the two of you? " Troy asked trying to redirect Sharpay's anger.

"You did not receive a sex tape. Chad and I would have had to have sex for there to be a sex tape." Turning around to Chad, Sharpay asked, "We didn't have sex right?"

"No we did not have sex. I think you would have remembered that by now if we had. How did you get a copy of what happened Friday?" Chad asked quietly.

"KIM," of Sharpay and Chad screamed simultaneously as they've all realize the only possible person would do such a thing.

"I'm going to kill her," Sharpay strongly. Before she finish getting off the bed Chad's arms were around her in an attempt to calm her down. It amazed her that his touch had such an effect on her.

"Sharpay calm down, you don't want Alex to be an orphan." As soon as the words were said, Sharpay smacked Chad upside the head.

"You idiot Kim said not to tell anybody." Sharpay said to him just low enough for the microphone not to pick up. On the drive to east high this afternoon, where Kim was doing her teaching observations this semester, Kim spend the entire time yelling at Sharpay for telling Chad the truth. She then begged her not to tell anybody else the truth, especially Troy. If it would have been any other guy, Sharpay would have assumed he was Alex's father. However, there was no way super innocent Boy Scout would have Troy with slept with Kim Without her or Chad knowing about it.

"Kim has a kid?" Sharpay could hear the panic and pain in Troy's voice even over the telephone.

"With Chad meant to say was Kim has custody of her little brother. You remember how flaky her biological mom was. That is why she moved back to New Mexico. Can we please talk about me making out with Chad at the party?"

"You rather talk about that then Kim raising a child?" Kim had way too much blackmail material for Sharpay to do anything to upset Kim.

"Have you dealt with an angry Kim before?" Sharpay responded poignantly.

"It wasn't what it looks like. I told you it was revenge on Penelope." Chad answered his friend. A small part of Sharpay was disappointed by that answer.

"Yes, what he said," Sharpay said in affirmation.

"How do you get revenge on Penelope for sleeping with Zeke by making out with Chad AKA Taylor's boyfriend?"

Fortunately, for all involved Sharpay's phone rang at that moment

"I have to talk to daddy. Chad can you please tell Troy what happened? If you touch my Turkey burger I will hurt you. "

* * *

After 15 minutes a listening to Chad's crazy story about the weekend and how almost the entire campus believed Chad and Sharpay were dating he was laughing hysterically. It was the funniest story he ever heard. Kim's film definitely did not do it justice. He could not believe that Ryan had set Chad up like that. It was the greatest practical joke ever. He was probably getting back at Chad for accidentally starting that incest rumor sophomore year.

What was puzzling to Troy, was why Chad and Sharpay kept up with the charade. After seeing the video from this weekend and speaking to the two he knew there was something between them. He didn't believe that the two were just friends. There was also the fact that Chad used the phrase were just friends 20 times during this little explanation. No one says there just friends unless they're really not just friends.

"Do you believe me?"

"No," Troy said with all sincerity.

"I didn't cheat on Taylor. You know me I would never do that to her. It was all just for Penelope. "

"I believe that you believe that nothing happened."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing, it just means as far as you're concerned it was all pretend. However, I do not think you are just friends."

"Sharpay is just a friend."

"Because you have a girlfriend Sharpay is just a friend. Answer me this, if Taylor was out of the picture, would you be with Sharpay?"

After a few moments of silence Chad finally spoke. "So how's everything at Berkeley. Have you made any new friends? How is Gabriella doing?"

"And the winner from most blatant change of subject is Chad Danforth. Now please answer the question if Taylor wasn't around, would Sharpay still be just a friend?"

"I don't know," Chad practically whispered this into the phone.

"That is the only completely honest thing I've heard you say in the last 20 minutes."

"It doesn't matter Troy. I'm not exactly going to break up with Taylor via e-mail. Things are the way they are and playing the 'what if' game does not help anyone. Will you tell Taylor about this weekend?"

"Not as long as you're in denial."

"I'm not in denial." No one did denial like Chad Danforth. Chad didn't even believe his parents were having marriage problems until the divorce papers were finalized and his mom move to Alexandria, Virginia. Troy just hoped Chad would figure things out a little quicker this time.

"Of course not, and I only join the school play last spring for Gabriella."

"How is Gabriella?"

"I'm not sure, considering I've spent more time talking to you and your not-girlfriend Sharpay than my actual girlfriend."

"When did you talk to Sharpay besides today?"

"Once a couple of Saturdays ago, when you were trying not to kill your evil roommate, I called your cell phone and Sharpay answered. Is there some reason why Sharpay feels comfortable picking up your cell phone?

"It Sharpay, one does not question why she does anything."

"She spent 15 minutes blaming your then roommate situation on my decision to go to Berkeley. On Wednesday, we talked about how jealous she was that I actually was taking an acting class during my first semester. Friday night, after I received your picture of her beating up a teddy bear on stage she sent me some weird voice mail. She kept talking about how I was too good for Gabriella and I should go find the love of my life. She also said something about you being a much better kisser then Zeke."

"She said I was a better kisser than Zeke?"

"Another reason why I believe something happened last Friday, even if the two of you are in denial."

"We're not in denial" Troy sighed at Chad statement. It was going to be a very long semester.

"I think this phone call has outlived its usefulness. I'm going to read my history assignment." Troy said hanging up the phone.

* * *

Kim sat down at that kitchen table next to her son. She was currently trying to get Alex to eat his carrots and was failing miserably. Right when Alex through another piece of carrot she heard her phone began to play _picture_ by kid rock and Sheryl crow. She knew instantly who was calling.

"How did your conversation with Chad go? Do you believe me now?" She didn't even bother with hello. She just wanted to get through this conversation with him as quickly as possible with her heart still intact.

"I believe you, mostly because I spoke to both of them at the same time. You are right there definitely more than friends. What I don't understand is how it happened so fast. When I left three weeks ago they were still enemies."

"Whatever is going on between those two didn't start three weeks ago. This has been going on since a curly haired boy and a little blonde headed girl got in a fight over chocolate milk on the first day of kindergarten. Come on there was a betting pool in high school about when they would get caught in the janitor's closet. It was just a matter of time before that much passion makes itself known. Now that everyone who told them it was wrong for them to be together is gone…"

"They are going to finally be together." Troy said finishing her sentence like he used to.

"Exactly, the question as are you going to help me get them together? There so stubborn they're going to fight this tooth and nail unless we help them."

"My girlfriend is going to hate me for helping to breakup her best friend and her boyfriend.

"So she will cut you off for a couple of weeks. She will eventually get over it."

"We're not sleeping together."

"That's good. I mean… you and her have been together for 19 months. You and I began sleeping together after just a few weeks. Oh my god your mom was right I was pressuring you. I'm so sorry."

"Kim you're babbling. You didn't pressure me. I wanted to be with you. It's just different with Gabby. I did not even kiss her for the first six months of our relationship. I'm not talking about this with you. I think there's some rule about not talking about problems with your current girlfriend with your ex girlfriend. Especially, if the ex girlfriend left you without even calling."

"Don't bring that up again Troy. I didn't have a choice your mom was going to send me to jail for statutory rape and make sure you never play another game of basketball ever. I didn't have a choice. I had to protect you. I loved you too much to let that happen. Now you're at Berkeley on a basketball scholarship. If I stayed that would not have happened."

"You just disappeared. You never called. How can you say you love to me if you didn't even try to get in contact with me? "

"I couldn't. If I tried to contact you, your mom would have sent me to Jail. I didn't disappear. I told Sharpay exactly where I was. You could have asked her about me at any time. You didn't. You moved on to freaky math girl." Kim used Sharpay's nickname for Gabriella with more animosity than Sharpay ever did.

"I didn't forget about you." The tone of his voice almost broke her heart.

"I will never forget about you. We lost our chants. Here is our opportunity to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else. Are you going to help me? " Kim said this as she picked Up Alex from his booster seat.

"Sure my best friend deserves the happily ever after that we never got."

"Thank you for helping. One question before you go?"

"Okay"

"Do you love her?" Kim knew she was a masochist for asking the question. However, she needed to know the answer.

"Sometimes," Troy answered her in a whisper.

"Did you love me?"

"That's two questions."

"Answer the question."

"Always," his answer made her heart to that thing it always did when he was around.

"I'll call you in a couple of days?"

"I like that. I will talk to you later." Troy said as he ended the call.

"That was your daddy baby." Kim said to Alex as she pointed to the pitcher of Troy on her cell phone.

* * *

A/N: Yes, super innocent Troy **Alexander **Bolton got a girl, two years his senior, pregnant at 15 and has no idea. Best of all neither do Chad and Sharpay.


	9. High School Revisited

**Update 12/1/2009: This is the new chapter 9.**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Rating: M for uses of the O word, other sexual situations, and more discussion of the Richard incident

**Chapter 9: High School Revisited**

For someone who was actually popular in high school, Chad had no desire to go back there ever again. The only thing he missed about high school was hanging out with his best friend Troy. He hated being something that he was not just to fit in. He could admit it now, that he was a closet genius. In high school he was so afraid of being labeled a nerd that he viciously persecuted the highly gifted. Even after the 'breaking free' movement of junior year he wasn't ready to come out of the genius closet, even though he started dating the head of the brain contingent. To this day Taylor does not know he scored a good 200 points higher than she did on the SAT.

He was just starting to become comfortable with his intelligence and now he was forced to go back to the seven circle of high school hell. Why does he let Sharpay talk him into this sort of stuff? The wicked little voice in the back of his mind says it is because she is currently wearing a low cut tank top and very tight shorts. He tries to ignore that voice.

"I can't believe you talked me into chaperoning a high school dance Friday night. I could be doing more pleasant things like my chemistry homework, my calculus homework or having a conversation with Penelope while being swarmed by ravenous raccoons." Chad said to Sharpay as they stood in the men's section of one of the most upscale stores in Albuquerque.

"Will you please shut up and try on the outfit I picked out for you. You are coming with me to keep the perverted 10th graders from grabbing my ass and keeping me from going completely bored. I don't want to have to go back to that place anymore than you do." Sharpay said as she shoved him into the dressing room.

"Then why are you volunteering at the school this year?" Chad asked from behind the dressing room door.

"I spent four years building that drama department and I'm not going to let some British ice queen wannabe undo all my hard work. Don't tell me you won't be at the first basketball game this year to see if the guy with your number will be just as good as you were. I'm getting school credit and the volunteer work will look really good on my grad school applications."

"I don't need to remember my past glory, I still have the present. You were the one who told me that high school is over. It is time to let go. There is no way you are going to see me anywhere near that school on the night of the season opener. My number was retired. No one else will have my number again, because I was that good." As far as he was concerned he needed to concentrate on the present and not passed. He was more concerned with Sharpay's earlier statement about going to graduate school. That definitely didn't mesh with Sharpay's Tony award fantasy. "Are you actually going to go to graduate school?"

"That's an option if Broadway doesn't work out. It is not as if Ryan could last 5 minutes with the sharks at my father's company. If someone's going to carry on the family legacy, unfortunately it's going to be me."

"Do you ever get tired of being the person everyone thinks you are?" Chad said as he left the room wearing a wonderful charcoal gray suit. He knows he hated being the person that everyone thought he should be. That is why he didn't want to go back to EHS tomorrow. He didn't want to reprise his role as stupid jock number two.

"All the time," Sharpay said with a sigh. "You look really good in that suit." He was almost positive he saw her blushing.

"Why am I getting a suit? I do not remember any of our chaperones wearing suits to the welcome back dance."

"The other outfit is for the dance, this is for Taylor's parents' 25th anniversary party in October. I promised Taylor yesterday, that you would be in something decent for her parents' party. Go back inside and try on the other outfit." Sharpay said as she shoved him back in the dressing room.

"You called my girlfriend?" Chad asked in shock as he began to imagine up his worst fear of the two girls sharing stories about him.

"You left your cell phone in my room when you went to get your laptop and chemistry textbook to study yesterday. She called, I answered." He really hoped his girlfriend and whatever Sharpay was did not compare notes on his kissing technique. He was already not looking forward to explain everything to Taylor in a little more than a month. When he was not sure if Sharpay was just a friend.

"We really need to talk about boundaries. Like answering my cell phone when I'm _not_ there. In polite society that is not acceptable. Also, I thought we agreed to cut down on the expensive gifts."

"When am I ever polite? The suit is not for you, it is for Taylor. I think she deserves something from me for making out with her boyfriend in public." Before he could respond to her, Sharpay opened the dressing room door and quickly ran inside as if she was being chased.

"Sharpay, go outside right now. Did we not just talk about boundaries? I think there are rules about this sort of thing." Chad said panicking as he stood in the dressing room in his underwear.

"I'm not seen anything more than I would during a performance quick change. Chad, I could go down on you in here and the staff wouldn't care as long as I gave a decent tip. Not that I would," Sharpay added hastily after she noticed his dear in headlights expression. "Richard is outside and I don't want to talk to him by myself." The petrified look in her eyes told him it was best just to let her stay.

"Fine you can stay here. Although, I never thought I would see the day when Sharpay Evans would be afraid." A scared Sharpay was a very frightening thought for him.

"Let's see how well you would do if you had to interact with the guy that raped you on a daily basis?" She had a point and he knew it. He was also proud that she was finally able to admit what Richard did to her. It was a step in the right direction.

"Good point. It's just you are not the type of person to run and hide from the demons of high school. Ever sense he put those pills in your drink the night of the spring dance, you have been running away. You didn't Press charges. You just disappeared for two months. You have been pushing everybody away for the last two years. The Sharpay Evans I know would be getting even with the bastard, not letting him control every aspect of her life. If you let the fear of him control you, then it's like letting him do it all over again."

"You are right," Sharpay said as she got a wicked look in her eyes. All of a sudden, she started moaning like she did Friday night when he was kissing her in the water fountain. The only difference was he wasn't touching her at the moment. It looked like she was reenacting that scene from that Billy Crystal movie that Taylor made him watched a dozen times that was like that Ashton Kutcher movie that Sharpay made him watch Sunday night.

"What are you doing?" Chad said in a whisper.

"Getting even," Sharpay said as she continued her performance.

"How does making it sound like I'm giving you an earth shattering orgasm qualify as revenge?" before he even finished the sentence he knew exactly what she was doing.

"You just said it yourself." Sharpay answered with a wicked look.

"You are so evil. I think I'm starting to love you." Chad said as he joined her in her little game, completely unaware that he just used the L word.

"I know."

* * *

20 minutes later Sharpay exited the dressing room and made a show of straightening her skirt. Just as she suspected Richard was standing by a rack of clothing near the dressing room trying to act casual. She walked by him without even looking. She wasn't going to let him hurt her anymore.

A few seconds later Chad emerged from the dressing room with ruffled hair, strategically placed lipstick, and a giant smile on his face. Grabbing her quickly Chad kissed her right in front of Richard. She was not expecting him to do that and the second his lips touched her's, she dropped everything she was holding. She couldn't think when he kissed her. How was she supposed to stay just friends with a guy when he kissed her like that?

After picking up the drop clothing, she made her way to the checkout counter knowing that she would have to leave at least a $50.00 tip to buy the clerks silence regarding her and Chad's little act in the dressing room. She wondered how much it would be if they actually did what they were pretending to do. Not that anything like that would ever happen because she knew Chad was in love with Taylor.

As she walked away she could hear Chad approaching Richard and spoke just loud enough for her to hear, "real men don't need pills to get what they want. Besides it is so much more fun when she screaming my name at that certain moment. I just love watching her face, she so beautiful when she comes. What can I say, I am just that good." She loved seeing the look of anger on Richards face. If she knew Chad was this good of an actor in high school, she would have forced him to join drama.

Chad walked up to Sharpay at the counter and placed a kiss on her neck. She was starting to become addicted to his touch. She would have to remind herself this was not real. No one could ever love her like this in the real world. She was too damaged to be loved. Letting go of the painful thought, Sharpay paid for the purchases with a credit card as she pulled out a $50.00 bill for the clerk.

"Keep your money, we now have a new no tipping policy." the cashier said in annoyance. "Besides that was the best show I've seen in years," the cashier whispered as she handed the receipt to Sharpay.

"How did you know?" Sharpay asked the cashier quietly.

"The two of you were all friends before that person got here and all of the sudden you are moaning in one of the dressing rooms. Let me guess ex-boyfriend. He cheated on you or something like that."

"He did do that, but he also did some other unpleasant things."

"Too bad, he's kind of cute."

"I wouldn't bother, he has a GHB problem." Chad said in a low voice.

"What about you, are you available Friday night?" the cashier asked Chad.

"No he has a date," Sharpay said as she handed the receipt to the girl. No one was going to get near her Chad.

* * *

At 5:30 PM, he showed up to her room wearing the outfit she chose for him. He was absolutely petrified to knock on the half open door. He had no idea why. He was with Sharpay all the time except at basketball practice, which he was starting to hate, and during the classes he didn't have with her. He wasn't this scare for his first date with Taylor and he had to deal with Mr. McKessie, a man who may have been a bouncer in a previous life. Except this was not a date and Mr. Evans was currently looking at property in Kyoto or somewhere else in Japan

He could see Sharpay putting on her makeup in her room as Kim sat off to the side laughing hysterically. He was about to knock when he heard Kim say "I can't believe you pretended to have sex in a dressing room with Chad Danforth just to get back at the moron who will not be mentioned. You're so evil when you put your mind to it." Kim said as she picked up Alex from the floor where he had been playing with Sharpay's stuffed animal collection. Figuring out Alex's paternity had quickly become a fascination for Chad. After eliminating everyone who was not the right ethnicity or he knew for a fact were still proud members of club V, Chad had 10 possible suspects.

"Thank you again for taking my chaperone duty, If I knew you hated school dances so much I would have said yes when Ms. Darbus asked me. I mean you love school dances before I left. It was another chance for you to show off your latest purchases from New York and your fabulous dance moves."

"It's okay you need to spend as much time with Alex as you can. Besides, that was before I woke up alone and scared in some random hotel room after my bastard boyfriend violated me after the last school dance I went to."

"Zeke didn't do the same thing at prom?" Kim asked in a very worried voice.

"I couldn't even make it to the limo for prom. I threw up in the driveway. Of course my loving boyfriend decided to go onto the dance with my brother and his girlfriend. now wished, I did go to the dance because I would've known about Troy's girlfriend rescue mission to Stanford. I had to perform with a 15 year old whose voice probably changed the week before the performance."

Chad was off in his own little world on prom night and didn't even realize that she didn't make it. Now that he thought of it, she was the only member of the senior class that was surprise that Troy was not there for the first part of the show. He feels bad now for not telling her. Although at the time, he did hate her or at least he thought he hated her. Now he doesn't know what he feels, except it's not hate. Everything was so much simpler in high school.

"Troy drove 1000 miles for his girlfriend and Ryan has a girlfriend? I Thought he has…" Kim began as Sharpay cut her off in midsentence.

"Everyone thought he was. You know Ryan; if someone expects him to do something he does the opposite. He's probably being heterosexual just for the shock value. As for Troy and the great Gabriella adventure, I have no idea why. Maybe the sex was just that good?"

He was about to tell Sharpay that Troy was still a proud member of the V club and had not touched Gabriella in that way even though she kept sending him dirty cell phone pictures. Unfortunately, Kim beat him to it. "He told me he never slept with the FMG." Chad had a feeling by the way Kim said the term, that the F in FMG meant the same as the F in WTF, which was exactly what he was thinking after what Kim said next. "The only person Troy ever slept with was…" Kim was stopped abruptly by Sharpay pulling him into the room and fussing at him for causing them to be late. It was already too late; Kim revealed all too much with her words and body language. All of a sudden, the one person Chad automatically assumed could never be Alex's father went to the top of the list.

Before Chad had time to think about the fact that his best friend lie to him about something so important, all rational thought left his mine as he saw how beautiful Sharpay was. The fabric of her black dress clung to her body perfectly. Although she was probably showing too much cleavage for a high school dance chaperone, he really didn't care at that moment. He kissed her on the cheek as he normally did now. He tried not to think about the fact that he never kissed Gabriella or Kelsey on the cheek like that. Then again, he liked Sharpay a lot more than he liked Gabriella.

As they all walked out the room, Kim just had to say something to get Sharpay upset. "Now if you to decide to actually do what you were pretending to do yesterday, you may want to use these." Kim said as she tossed a pack of condoms to Sharpay. "I don't want you to give Alex a playmate until he is at least six."

* * *

"Oh my god, it looks like Barbie threw up in here." Sharpay said as they stepped inside the pink covered gymnasium. She was just glad to be out of the car after the uncomfortable condom in the hallway incident. She knew Kim just did that because they accidentally told Troy about Alex. At least they were able to convince Troy that Alex was her brother and not her son. The ride would not have been so bad if Chad didn't keep making dirty jokes the entire time. She did not think about how she kept the condoms instead of giving them back to Kim.

"I thought you like pink," Chad said as they began to make their way to the chaperone's table.

"Even I have my limits." The truth of the matter was she hated the decorations because Tiara was the head of the dance committee. She couldn't stand the girl.

"I thought they usually do school colors for the welcome back dance."

"Normally yes; however, the British ice queen bitch, was the head of the dance committee. She hasn't been here long enough to understand the traditions of this school. Not only is she trying to take over my drama department, she's also running for student body president." Sharpay said in anger.

"You really got to let go. Holding onto the past is just not healthy. This is a step up from the prom. The theme was horrible and the execution was even worse.

"How bad were the prom decorations?" Sharpay asked as she walked over to the refreshment table to grab a water. It felt strange benign here as a chaperone when a few months ago she was a student here.

"Bad, I have no idea there was that much crepe paper in Albuquerque." Chad said as Miss Darbus walked up to the two.

"I thought you graduated last year Mr. Danforth even though you won't turn 18 until January."

"You're 17. How can you be 17? We have had every class together since kindergarten except for that year when my family lived in Newport, Rhode Island. I turn 19 in December." Then she remembered that Chad was on the small side until a remarkable growth spurred during the end of junior year. She just assumed he had a baby face. Not that he was an entire year younger than everybody else was. That was not in his Lava Springs file. How could she be falling for a person a year younger than her? Not that she was actually falling for Chad Danforth. She preferred older guys or guys that were same age as her. He was a year younger than her.

"I skip preschool." Chad said nonchalantly."Can we please talk about that later?" Chad said as he noticed a few students putting the final touches on the decorations. Apparently, Chad was still afraid of the wildcat population finding out that he made Gabriella look like an average student.

"You're a year ahead of me." Sharpay said indignantly.

"With all my AP classes and other college credit, technically I am a sophomore." While she was starting to gulp like a fish at the revelation Chad would be graduating two years younger than she would, Chad turned to Ms. Darbus. "Sharpay didn't want to do this by herself, so she volunteer/drafted me to help out."

"Very well Mr. Danforth, it is nice to have a little extra help. Since you and Ms. Evans still look young enough to be students here, you will be in charge of monitoring the refreshment table. "

"Basically we have to keep Joshua Steiner from dumping Jack Daniels in the punch again."

"Essentially yes," Ms. Darbus said with a sigh. "It's nice to see you walking around without a basketball in your hands."

"Chad is a method actor Ms. Darbus. He couldn't play the role of the stupid high school jock without a prop. But Mr. Closet genius over here apparently fooled us all." Sharpay walked away from him as soon as she said the words wondering what else he was hiding from her.

"This is going to be a very long night," Chad said as she walked away from him.

**A/N: I actually knew people who were closeted geniuses in high school. One was actually a member of the basketball team. She concealed her intelligence by acting stupid in front of her friends. Another classmate covered up his intelligence by hitting on every girl on campus, apparently, players can't be geniuses. For those of you reading this that are still in high school, be proud of who you are.**


	10. We’ll All Get Through This Together

**Update 12/1/2009: This is the new chapter 10**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I love hearing feedback. Warnings/spoilers: underage drinking (attempted), sexual assault (attempted), drug use (not intentional), and a gag using those condoms. The usual stuff that happens at a high school dance. Nothing graphic though.

Tiara's name is purposely misspelled throughout this story. No one likes her enough to pronounce it correctly.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable

**Chapter 10: We'll All Get Through This Together or A Night to Forget**

It had been 45 minutes since she ran away from Chad. She knew she was channeling her high school self, but she could not help it. This place always brought out the worst in her. She talked to a couple of her old so-called friends who were now seniors and juniors. Most of them now considered Tierra to be their leader. After speaking to the girls for 5 minutes, Sharpay wondered how she could have ever been like them. Anita was the only one who thought for herself. The rest were mindless sheep. The others only cared about having the hottest boyfriend, the best wardrobe, and being popular. Sharpay cared about none of those things. She did care about clothing, now it was more of a "does this outfit make me look professional" way. Not in a "does this outfit make Chad think I'm hot" way.

This is why she wanted Chad with her. She didn't belong in this place. She should probably go apologize to him for running off. She was just too proud to do it. She was so mad at him for lying to her for so many years. Why was he so afraid of people seeing the real him. Then she thought about how few people actually knew the real her. She could count on her hand how many people knew who Sharpay Evans really was.

After 10 additional minutes of prowling the dance floor looking for teenagers acting stupid she went back to the chaperone's table. She kept seeing the various groups keep to themselves. This seems strange because the system of social apartheid was abolished two years ago. The whole situation was making her uncomfortable because she kept seeing the ghost of her 10th grade self everywhere.

Currently Ms. Ortega her 12th grade honors English teacher was the only one sitting at the table. She remembered having this class with Chad last school year. He was supposed to take AP12 but Taylor found out he was in the class and assumed it was a clerical error. She forced him to give her his spot. "I thought you graduated last year"

"I did, I am back as a chaperone for the dance. I'm participating in A of U assist other schools program."

"That's good. So how are your classes going?" Sharpay spent the next 5 minutes talking to Miss Ortega about her classes this semester. She did find it strange that the only people she could talk to were the faculty. Her former high school friends kept expecting her to be some brain dead sorority girl or some drama queen.

* * *

After 50 minutes of people, only asking him about the basketball team Chad was regretting pissing Sharpay off earlier. He is seriously considering taking theater 115 next semester as his art credit. Apparently, he was better performer than he thought if most people still only saw him as the stupid jock. He tried to talk to a few of his former teammates about his English class this semester. The concept that someone can be both good and evil depending on the perspective was too much for most of the team to understand. Most of his former friends believe he was only taking the class because _watcher man _is on the curriculum. Anyone on the team could comprehend the concepts of the class kept their mouths shut his they were too afraid of the new Captain Ricky.

Chad hated Ricky. Ricky was the most arrogant player on the team last year. He thought he was better than everyone else, because he was the only junior that was a starter. He was nasty to everyone and made fun of anyone who could actually think for himself. Worst of all he would always talk about who he slept with the night before, as if been a slut made you a better man. Just being in the same room as that patronizing bastard made his skin crawl.

Chad did have a little fun when he scared Jimmy away from Sharpay. Although the boy was almost as tall as Chad was now he was still easily frightened. (Probably because of Ricky's scare tactic and intimidation) Chad told him that if he touched his girlfriend again, Chad would e-mail Troy a copy of that "letter" that Jimmy wrote him last year. Chad did not realize he refer to Sharpay as his girlfriend.

Chad spent a good portion of time trying to block out the possibility that his best friend lie to him for the last few years and is most likely Kim's baby daddy. He had no real way of knowing right now. It wasn't as if he was going to call is best friend up and ask him if he slept with her 2 ½ years ago. Considering that, Kim told the two of them specifically not to tell Troy that Alex was her son, he had a feeling that his suspicions were true. The whole line of thought was too much for him. At this point, he was seriously considering draining the contents of the bottle of rum he just confiscated from one of the juniors.

"Hand It over. " called a voice from the side.

"Hi Coach Bolton. Don't you usually avoid these things?" Chad asked as he handed the bottle over to the coach. For a moment, Chad wondered if Coach Bolton had any idea about his possible status as a grandfather.

"I did mostly for Troy sake even though he never showed up. Now I have four years to make up for. I wish I chaperone that spring dance two years ago." That last part was whispered under his breath.

"So do I," Chad mumbled, wondering if his presence would have kept Richard from drugging Sharpay.

"So how are classes this semester?"

"I just like to thank you for not asking me about the basketball team."

"Are things going that bad?"

"Coach Roberts practices make yours look like kindergarten gym class. I am also one of only two freshmen on the team. We're still working on our team spirit issues. I like my classes a lot more than sports right now. It's nice to actually be myself for once."

"Sounds about what Troy said about Berkeley. Apparently, I am nowhere near as bad as his new basketball coach. All of his new friends are from the drama department."

"It's probably not as bad for me because I have Sharpay, even if she's not speaking to me at the moment. I'm not sure how much Troy told you about the Gabby situation."

"That she hardly ever calls him unless she want something. The first message he has received from her in the last five days is a picture of her flashing at a party last night. Except for that one thing a few years, ago my son pretty much tells me everything." Chad wondered if that one thing was Kim. "I even know about you and Sharpay or rather I saw the video."

"Which one exactly?" Chad asked angry that his friend decided to forward the video. Never give anything remotely embarrassing to Troy digitally. He has this annoying habit of sharing the clip with other people. For example, every time Gabby sends topless pictures to Troy he usually sent the clip to Chad with a caption like "Why am I dating her again?"

"The one involving the water fountain"

"Oh god," Chad said in pure embarrassment. Sharpay show him that clip two days ago. If you did not know that they were pretending, you would think that they were doing what they were pretending to do yesterday in the dressing rooms.

"Is there any chance I could get that back?" Chad asked gesturing to the bottle.

"Not a chance."

* * *

After talking to a few more her former teachers Sharpay was actually starting to have a good time. She was even forgetting about why she hated school dances. In addition, Jimmy was doing his best to avoid her, which was a plus. She was positive that Chad said something to him, which was fine with her.

She was about to apologize to Chad for her diva Sharpay moment earlier in the evening. However, she saw him surrounded by the cheerleader contingent. There was no way she was going anywhere near him as long as the young and the shallow were throwing themselves at him. She had no idea why seeing Chad with another girl made her so upset. It wasn't as if he was really her boyfriend. He was just a friend. Before she knew it, she was running to the restroom to have a good screen or cry. Chad had her so confused right now she didn't know what she was doing half the time.

She was about to walk through the door when she heard sophomore Kerri Jackson AKA the smart cheerleader complain about her boyfriend, new basketball captain Ricky Warren. Apparently, Ricky was the new Troy Bolton. Unfortunately, he was nowhere near as good of a person, if the bruises on Kerri arm were any indication. At the sound of the girls talking, Sharpay decided to stay back and listen to their conversation. Eavesdropping was Sharpay's favorite activity.

"He said he was sorry." Kerri said to her friend.

"Wife beaters say that to their victims all the time. This time he only bruised your arm. Next time what will happen? You've got to get away from him." From the voice, she could tell it was Kelsey's younger sister Jackie Nielsen trying to talk some sense into her friend. Unlike her sister, Jackie preferred to be on stage. She was outspoken and refused to take anything from those around her. The freshman was the polar opposite of Kelsey. Sharpay love having Jackie in the class she was working with.

"It doesn't matter because it was a onetime thing. He was just upset." Kerri said in defense of her boyfriend. Sharpay barely remembered the now sophomore, but she knew the defense was flimsy at best.

"He was upset because you wouldn't sleep with him. He practically tried to rape you." At the mention of the R word Sharpay began to shake a bit. She thought yesterday's revenge would help her get over what Richard did to her, but the nightmare still came. This dream was the worst one yet. Richard didn't just hurt her, he also assaulted Chad. She was so scared by the dream that she actually called Chad at 2:20 AM just to see if he was okay. She ended up sleeping in the spare bed in his room again.

"But he didn't hurt me Jackie." Kerri said in pure denial.

"What do you call that bruise on your arm? You got that because you ran away from him. What if you can't run away next time?"

"That's none of your business Jackie."

"You're my best friend. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"You are just jealous that I have a boyfriend and you don't. Maybe Ricky was right, it's best if I stick to my own kind."

"What does that mean? Just because I don't jump up and down with pompoms doesn't mean I don't care about you. Besides, you are so much better than those wannabes*. I don't have a boyfriend because I don't want one. I definitely don't want one that hits me when I won't put out."

"Whatever," Kerri said running out of the bathroom.

Walking over to the upset girl Sharpay asked quietly "Are you okay Jackie?"

"You heard most of that didn't you?" Jackie said as she wiped a single tear from her eyes.

"Pretty much. I am sure your sister told you I love listening to other people's conversations. Information is power. Besides I'm a chaperone at this event and I need to know if I need to look out for something like stupid boyfriends putting GHB in their girlfriend's drink."

"I hate her boyfriend Ricky. He is changing her. I don't trust him at all. She's buying into his popularity hierarchy propaganda."

"I distinctly remember the popularity hierarchy being overthrown by an overly perky brunette and the captain of the basketball team. I have video of the entire school singing _We're All in This Together _at a basketball game."

"Well it looks like the British diva and her partner in crime is undoing your good work. She and Ricky are doing their best to reinstitute the system. By the way things are going the status quo should be back in full force by October." Sharpay didn't bother telling her that she was one of those trying to keep the status quo in place. Two years and hindsight can do a lot for ones position on the issue.

* * *

Chad looked at his watch for the 50th time that night. It had only been 78 minutes and 23 seconds scent Sharpay left him with Ms. Darbus and Chad was missing her greatly. If he had to listen to one more idiotic cheerleader throw herself at him, he was going to scream. Compared to these girls Penelope was a saint and a genius. He was currently trying to get shallow cheerleader number three to let go of his arm when idiotic cheerleader number two started talking to him again.

He noticed Sharpay standing by the refreshments table. The look of murder in her eyes gave him hope that she would scare the little cheerleaders away for him. Instead, she ran out the door. This did not look good for him. He was tired of this little game with Sharpay and decided to go after her.

"I have to go" Chad said pushing shallow cheerleader number four away from him.

"But we're having so much fun," called out shallow cheerleader number one.

"Yes, but I'd rather be with my girlfriend." Chad said hoping that would get the girls to get away from him.

"Isn't she on the other side of the country?" Shallow cheerleader number four asked knowingly.

"I'm not with her anymore. I am dating Sharpay Evans. " As he said the words Chad wondered if you say a lie enough times does it eventually become the truth. He spoke with Taylor for exactly three minutes and 27 seconds yesterday about nothing of importance whatsoever. In the same period, he has spoken to Sharpay on the phone alone for a combined total of 73 minutes and 48 seconds. This includes a 25-minute phone call at 2:20 AM where he calmed Sharpay down after another Richard nightmare that ended up with her sleeping in his room again on the spare bed. He could go for days without talking to Taylor. After 82 minutes and 21 seconds of being away from Sharpay without even a text message, he was starting to go through withdrawal. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ponder what this meant. He needed to get away from the cheerleaders and other shallow teenage girls.

The threat of Sharpay did not work. The threat of Ms. Darbus giving all of them detention if they didn't stop propositioning one of the chaperones did work. Chad quickly left the gymnasium to find Sharpay. After 89 minutes in 19 seconds he was ready to end this silly fight with Sharpay. He saw her leave the ladies room and making her way to the entrance for the roof garden. She seemed less likely to rip his head off than a few minutes earlier. That was always a good sign. As he made his way through the hallway, he heard a voice coming from Sharpay's old double locker. He was very thankful that they forgot to change the combination when it was given to the new owner. He quickly remembered what the combination was from that one time he broke into the locker last year and rescued the occupant from inside.

He was shocked to see it was Taylor's 12-year-old brother Jason stuffed inside the locker.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you a little young for high school." Chad asked the younger boy.

"Aren't you a little old to be here?"

"I'm a chaperone."

"You're a little young to be a chaperone?"

"Don't ask it was Sharpay's fault."

"You are doing a wonderful job." Jason replied sarcastically.

"Hey I could have left you in there. So why exactly are you here?"

"I'm a freshman." Chad knew that like himself, Jason was a member of the gifted kids club. His IQ was actually a good 20 points higher than his sister was. Not that IQ really matters when it comes to getting good grades. Even Chad flunked a class or two by not paying attention. Taylor's parents opted to skip Jason ahead two years. When this dance is over, he is going to call his mother and thank her for refusing to let him be skip ahead more than he was. It is bad enough that he was a year younger than Sharpay.

"Why exactly where you stuffed in a locker?"

"Ricky. This year he has turned the basketball team into the nerd terror squad. The only members of the basketball team not participating are Jimmy and Nicholas Cross. Ricky and Tiara are trying to bring back the status quo to East High. It's only been a week and the cafeteria has already returned to the social apartheid that Taylor talked about when she was a sophomore."

This was not his problem anymore. He was out of this school and away from this stupid system once and for all. Then he remembered how scared he was for anybody to find out that the co captain of the basketball team was a genius. He looked at the scare 12 year old in front of him and realized that for Taylor sake he needed to do something. More importantly, Chad needed to do something for the scared 13-year-old boy he once was who was too afraid to be himself. He could not do this himself. Chad needed the most diabolical mine in the history of East High. Now all he needed to do was go apologize to her.

* * *

After her conversation with Jackie, Sharpay was too shaken up to go back into the dance. Sharpay always thought that the garden was one of places, other than the stage, that she could actually be herself. Unfortunately, she walked in on two students "christening" the new swing.

"Seriously Sandi, I thought you had more self respect than to fool around with your boyfriend on the school roof. I suggest you take this to his car at the very least." Sharpay said as she threw the pack of condoms that Kim gave her earlier in the day at the hormonally charged couple. So embarrassed by the entire encounter they both ran away immediately.

"You know we usually give detention to the students we catch up here, not condoms." Coach Bolton said from behind her.

"Like that will help. Do you have any idea how many good make out spots there are in the theater? I just wanted to get them out of here"

"That was a very creative way to do it. So why exactly are you hiding up here."

"Why are you here?"

"Doing what chaperones do at these dances do, keeping my fellow parents from become young grandparents. After the incident two years ago at the spring dance, one of the chaperones comes up here every half an hour to make sure nobody is using it as a making out spot."

"I can stay up. I am kind of avoiding Chad.

"Is this because of you and him being…"

"We're just friends." He looked at her the same way Troy did when he knew she was lying. It must run in the family.

"I saw the tape. You're not friends, you'll never be friends."

"Are you going to continue quoting _Buffy the vampire slayer_? I really don't want to hear about love not being brains."

"What?" Coach Bolton asked her not knowing what she was referring to.

"Never mind. Nothing on that tape was real." She was wondering whom she was trying to convince more at this point Mr. Bolton or herself.

"Yes it was. Even if you are pretending, part of it was still real. Even on some subconscious level, it was still very real. I have known Chad sense he was a fetus. You know the teachers had a bet going on when the two of you would get together."

"Too bad nobody won." Sharpay said sarcastically.

"Actually, most of the dates were for after graduation." Sharpay decided to ignore that statement.

"If you're such an expert on Chad Danforth, maybe you can explain why he lied to me for so long. Why he spent most of high school pretending to be the dumb jock when in reality he was some super genius? If he is as smart as I know he is, why did he not graduate earlier? Why did he not follow Taylor to Yale? Between his basketball skills and SAT scores, I'm sure he would have got in without any problems."

"How much you know about Chad's mom?"

"That she's really nice and she is a lawyer who specializes in civil rights legislation. After the divorce, she took a job with an advocacy group in DC. She looks good for someone who has a 17 year old son."

"That's because she was 17 when he was born."

"What?"

"It is a long story. Essentially Caroline Sanchez was just as smart as her son, except her parents forced her through school at an accelerated pace. She graduated high school at 14 and came to A of U for the honors program. She was not ready for it. She had a brilliant mind, but emotionally she was not ready for college. She pretty much rebelled against her parents by doing many stupid things, like sleeping with half the basketball team."

"Were you one of these basketball players?"

"She was just a friend. I graduated two years before all this happened. Anyway, during her junior year she ended up pregnant by my friend Charlie Danforth who was four years older than she was. The two really did not know each other that well. When Mr. Sanchez found out, he forced the two to get married. Fortunately Caroline was able to take an accelerated course load for the duration of the pregnancy and graduated two weeks before Chad was born. She went to law school when Chad started kindergarten."

"What does this have to do with Chad trying to conceal his intelligence?"

"Caroline thought her problems were caused by her parents pushing her. When she found out that Chad was exactly like her, she refused to push. She let him take the classes he wanted to take. When they wanted to skip him ahead a few years, she said no. She said she wanted Chad to have time to mature before starting college. Could you imagine Chad in college two years ago?" Sharpay shuddered at the thought. Chad was barely mature enough for college now.

"How did he end up skipping preschool?"

"That was Troy's fault. Troy would not go to kindergarten without Chad. Since Troy and Chad are only six months apart, they practically grew up together. We tried everything to get Troy to go to school without Chad. It didn't work. I ended up asking the school board if they would let Chad start kindergarten a year early. Because Chad's test scores were so good, they agreed. They have been like that ever sense. Chad did not apply to any ivy league school because he knew Troy couldn't get in."

"Then Troy leaves him for Berkeley and Gabriella. This explains why Chad was so freaked out last year."

"Once he explained the real reason why I was okay with it." Chad said sneaking up behind Sharpay.

"How much of that conversation did you hear?"

"Most of it," Chad replied to her quickly.

"I'll just leave you two alone for a while," Mr. Bolton said as he left the two alone on the roof.

"Thanks coach" Chad said to the departing man.

"I'm sorry" both yelled at the same time.

"Why are you sorry?" Sharpay asked quietly.

"Because I made you mad by not being honest with you. I know you have had so many people lie to you in your life and I just became another one. If we are really going to stop being enemies, we need to be honest with each other. Why are you sorry?"

"Because I went straight into pure diva Sharpay mode, instead of talking about what was bothering me."

"Can you two please kiss and make up later. Chad, I don't want to see you make out with my sisters replacement." Jason called out from the side.

"We're just friends," Sharpay replied automatically

"I'm still with your sister"

"I'm 12, not stupid. I do not care. I am not going to tell Taylor. Can we please talk about the Ricky problem?"

"You mean the fact that he likes to leave bruises on his girlfriend when she says no?" Sharpay said quickly

"What do you mean he hurts his girlfriend? I am talking about him stuffing freshman into your old locker." Chad answered

"I thought we were here to talk about how Tiara and Ricky are trying to take control of the school to bring back social apartheid and the status quo?" Jason asked from the sidelines.

"I graduate and everything goes to hell. I knew she was evil." Sharpay said as she grabbed her cell phone from her bag.

"What are you doing?" Chad question Sharpay as he noticed her typing furiously.

"Staging a coup and we are going to need help." Sharpay said as she began to send text message everyone she could think to meet them on the roof.

* * *

20 minutes later, a representative of every major group at East High surrounded Chad and Sharpay. Everyone was represented from the newly renamed tiara contingent (formally Sharpay contingent) to the skaters. No one want things to go back to the way they were two years ago. However, most were too intimidated by Ricky and Tiara to fight back. It was ironic that two years ago he and Sharpay were so desperately trying to keep things the way they were. Now after graduation, they were trying to prevent a return to the status quo. They were currently trying to figure out how to overthrow Ricky and Tierra as king and queen of East High.

"It's all good to overthrow Ricky and Tierra. However, if we don't install responsible people in their place this is going to happen all over again in a couple months." Anita, one of Sharpay's former followers, brought out this point. Anita lived on the history channel and took more AP classes than anyone she knew. She just happened to like the latest fashion and boys. "You know that Nikki Gutierrez would take over the group in a minute if she could. She could be just as ruthless as Tierra."

"I really don't want to end up in a locker again." Complain Jason from the side.

"Why exactly did Ricky stuff you in a locker?" Sharpay asked wondering if they could use it against Ricky somehow.

"I accidentally over heard him talking to a bunch of his stupid friends about having a surefire way to keep Kerri from saying no to him tonight. I don't really know what he was talking about. I saw him taking a bottle of pills out of his pocket. Next thing I know I'm stuffed in one of the lockers."

At Jason's words, Chad instantly knew what was going to happen to Kerri. Jason was too young to know what was happening, but he and Sharpay knew. The look of fear in Sharpay's eyes told him that she had the same uneasy feeling. Sharpay quickly got up and walked over to the ledge of the roof. Apparently, she saw something in the parking lot and was running down the stairs within seconds. He knew he needed to follow her.

"What's going on? You don't think he's going to…" Jackie asked from behind him.

"I do not know Jackie. Just stay up here and work on the plan."

"Just make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"I'll do my best."

As he left this roof, he heard of one of the groups say "the only power they have is the power that we give them. If we stopped giving them power, they no longer have the power to hurt us."

Chad caught up with her at the front of the school. "What are you doing Sharpay?"

"He has her in the parking lot."

"What?"

"I could see it from the roof. I can't let him hurt her."

"Sharpay?"

"I have to do this. Come with me?" He knew she was right.

"Always," Chad said as he grabbed her hand.

When they arrived in the parking lot Sharpay observed the scene she expected to see. Ricky was on top of a very out of it Kerri. She knew the 15-year-old girl was trying to fight him off but could not. She wondered if this was her two years ago, She couldn't let that thought into her mind. She needed to get Kerri out of the situation."

"Seriously Ricky, how desperate do you have to be to drug up a girl to sleep with you." Chad called out from behind him.

"Shut up Danforth. This is not your problem."

"Yes it is." Sharpay said as she attacked Ricky from behind causing him to lose his grip on Kerri.

Unfortunately, he recovered quickly and tried to attack Sharpay. Chad ran to help Sharpay, but she did not need it. Within seconds, Ricky was out cold on the asphalt.

"Did I forget to mention I've been taking martial arts for the last two years? The first thing I learned was to use my attacker strength against him."

"What's going on here?" Yelled out the principle, who was followed by Coach Bolton and Jackie.

"Oh my god, what did you do to her? Jackie cried out as she ran to her best friend who was on the ground almost unconscious from the drugs. "What did you give her, you bastard?" Jackie yelled at the unconscious Ricky.

"It seems that Mr. Hot shot over here decided to drug his girlfriend. Sharpay saw what was going on from the roof and ran down here to stop it." There was nothing but silence after that as the two educators looked at the scene in front of them. Sharpay was the only one who had enough common sense to call 911.

"Hi this is Sharpay Evans. I am in the parking lot of East High. I'm here with a 15-year-old girl who is almost unconscious. Her boyfriend was trying to rape her. Can you please send the cops and ambulance right away? I think she was drugged."

* * *

It was Tuesday morning by the time the dust settled. Chad and Sharpay were on their way to East High for a 12:00 PM meeting. Sharpay was thankful that it was Labor Day weekend and she had three days to recover from the emotional charge events of Friday night. Fortunately, for Sharpay her chemistry class was canceled today because her professor's flight back to New Mexico was delayed due to bad weather. Unlike Chad, she could not afford to miss a day of chemistry class.

"Why did they want to speak with us today?" Chad asked Sharpay as they made their way towards the school.

"I don't know Coach Bolton called me last night and said they needed to speak with us today."

"I thought the cops got our complete statements Saturday?"

"The 18 year old captain of the basketball team tries to rape a 15 year old and we keep it from happening. You know there's going to be a big investigation. In addition, I hit a student. There's a good chance I may not be allowed to continue helping out at the school. This is a shame because someone needs to keep tiara in place."

"I don't think you need to anymore." Chad said as they walked into the school. They noticed something was very off everybody was wearing school colors except for the British diva.

"Looks like somebody didn't get the text message about the new spirit day," Sharpay said to Tiara as she walked by.

The second thing they notice were the new campaign posters for Anita for student body president. The posters contain slogans such as "Change We All Believe In", "Death to the Status Quo", and "Social Apartheid Ends Now". As they walked by the cafeteria on their way to the principal's office Chad noticed that the normal groups in the cafeteria were completely gone. Everybody was talking to everybody else. Not that you could really tell since everybody was wearing school colors. It was impossible to pick up the skaters from the jocks if everybody was wearing red and white.

Finally, they noticed a signup sheet for a new round of basketball tryouts.

"Doesn't the coach have the basketball team in place by now? The season starts here in October." Sharpay asked Chad as they made their way into the principal's office.

"Normally I do. Especially considering East High does not have a football team. Unfortunately, due to Friday night's events, I have lost four of my five possible starters. Half the basketball team is suspended indefinitely because of what happened." Coach Bolton answered from in front of them.

"The police are still trying to work out the details of everything that happened." The principle called out from his office.

"Is that why you needed us both here?" Sharpay asked

"Not entirely," replied the principle.

The two slowly walked into the room and noticed Jackie sitting next to an older African American woman who looked a lot like Kerri. Immediately the two women ran up to Chad and Sharpay and hug them.

"Thank you for saving my baby. If it wasn't for you, she probably would have died." Ms. Jackson said as she let go up Sharpay.

"What?" both Chad and Sharpay questioned simultaneously.

"Ricky gave her too many pills. Add that to the medication she is already on, it was a disaster. Her body couldn't handle it. She most likely would have died of an overdose if you two didn't find her in time." Jackie said the whole thing almost in tears.

"Is she okay now?" Chad questioned

"She is alive. Psychologically, I have no idea." Ms. Jackson replied softly.

"There is really good counselor at the Raven Centre that specializes in this sort of thing. If you want, I can give you the phone number?"

"That's okay; I don't think our insurance will cover anything at the Raven Center."

"Don't worry this doctor does a lot of pro bono work." Sharpay said as she wrote the number down on a sticky.

"Thank you both for helping," Said Ms. Jackson as she hugged Sharpay again.

"If you need anything else just let me know. I will be happy to help." Sharpay told both women.

"There is one other thing. Remember that problem we were talking about Friday night before everything happened. We have a solution if you're willing to help Sharpay?" Jackie asked Sharpay.

"What do you need me to do?"

* * *

"So not only do you not get fired for beating up a student, you're considered a hero. You have a very charmed life Sharpay Evans. " Kim said to Sharpay as she helped the younger girl prepare the room for the drama club meeting that would be happening in less than 5 minutes.

"He was trying to rape a 15 year old who he drugged up on only God knows what. It was self-defense. It also helps that he was 18 and technically an adult. The school board believes my actions were justified in the situation. However, Chad and I are band from ever chaperoning a school dance again, even if our children are students here."

"It's so cute. You two are already thinking about having children together.

"Shut up Kim." Sharpay said as the students began to enter the room.

Kim was shocked to see Jackie there considering everything Sharpay told her.

"Are you ready Sharpay?" Ms. Darbus asked she walked into the room.

"As ready as I will ever be."

"What's going on Sharpay?"

"Something I should have did last year." Sharpay said to Kim as she walked up to the stage. After Ms. Darbus called the meeting to order, Sharpay began to speak.

"I know most of you know me from the fact that I am the teacher assistant in the Drama I class. I am also the former president of this organization. Last year before I left, I was to nominate a possible successor to this position, as is the tradition. However, I was not ready to let go last year. After recent events, I believe I am ready to let go of the past and I nominate a person who I know truly loves the performing arts. I feel she will lead this organization in the right direction for the next few years. Therefore, I nominate Jackie Nielsen for president of the East High drama club. Does anyone second my nomination?"

"I do," Anita called out from the back.

"All those in favor of Jackie Nielsen becoming the new president of the drama club say I?" Everybody but Tiara agreed.

"All those opposed?"

"How can she run unopposed?" Tiara asked angrily.

"Tiara didn't you read the bylaws of the drama club?" Jason said sitting next to her. "The rules specifically state that if the former president of the organization nominates a successor that person can be elected without competition as long as the majority of members agree to it. Since we're both in the same math class, I'm sure you're able to tell that 22 to 1 is a majority."

At that, Tiara quickly left the room in a display of anger that was absolutely hilarious.

An hour later Sharpay sat in Kim's car as they made their way back to campus. Sharpay was riding back with Kim because she let Chad drive her car to basketball practice.

"Now I'm upset that I missed all the goodness this weekend, because I decided to hang out with my son and my stepmom for the long weekend. All the good stuff happens when I am not around."

"Not that much of Friday night was good. However, there were a few highlights to the evening. Unfortunately, those will not be repeated now that I have my brand new roommate. At least we are in the same chemistry class; I need all the help I can get in that class."

"So did you and Chad get to use my present Friday night?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sharpay said as she smiled mysteriously.

* * *

**Friday night after the dance**

Sharpay was emotionally and physically exhausted after the events of the evening. She spent the last hour dealing with the police and the principle. This was turning out to be the worst scandal in East High history. Unfortunately, Kerri was not the only girl being drugged that night.

Originally, they were going to go to the Ice club to meet up with a few friends from their film class after the dance. Sharpay just did not feel like being around anyone else tonight. Instead, they currently are sitting on Sharpay's bed watching one of her favorite musicals _Bride and Prejudice._ Sharpay was finding out that Chad made a very good pillow. Unconsciously, Chad's hands were making little circles on her thighs. She loved his touch. By the time the movie was over she was already half asleep in his arms.

"Sharpay, you need to let me get up." He whispered to her.

"Stay with me?" Sharpay whispered sleepily.

"I am, I just need to get up and moved to the other bed."

"No you don't." Sharpay said as she snuggled into him a little more.

"You want me to stay in bed with you?" He asked her quietly.

"Yes," that was all he needed to hear to give in to her. He kissed her on the forehead and wrapped his arms around her more tightly.

**A/N: *I just like to say that most of the cheerleaders I knew in high school and college were hardcore athletes. This might have something to do with the fact that my high school won the state cheerleading championships several times. The cheerleaders depicted in the HSM films were shallow and one-dimensional with little exception. I am playing with that right now because it fits the chapter. Do not worry the college cheerleaders in this story will be hardcore athletes.**


	11. The Games We Play

**Update 12/1/2009: This is the new chapter 11**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Rated M for sexual humor

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. The song lyrics in this chapter are from the song Lost Without U by Robin Thicke.

**Chapter 11: These Games We Play**

His mouth was slowly moving from the base of her neck to the curve of her breast. His fingers were slowly making their way across her body. He touched every curve in the most sensual way possible. Her hands were slowly caressing his muscles, created by years of basketball. As he continued to taste every inch of her luscious skin she began moaning of his name as if it were a prayer. She knew that she loved him completely.

**Im lost without u  
Cant help myself  
How does it feel  
2 know that I love u baby**

Sharpay quickly woke up and turned off her alarm clock. To her disappointment, she realized that she was in bed alone. Why she picked that song as her wake up tone she had no idea? Her roommate of 17 days was currently sitting at the computer checking her e-mail. "Good morning sleepy head"

"Amanda How can you be this cheery on a Wednesday morning?" Sharpay said getting out of the bed and making her way to her outfit for the day.

"I do my best work in the morning. Someone is cranky. Are you upset that your teddy bear couldn't stay over?" Amanda said in her overly sweet voice.

"He's not my teddy bear. He is just a friend." Amanda just rolled her eyes at that.

"You know it's not good to lie this early in the morning. Chad spends more time in this room than I do. In the last 17 days that I've lived here, he slept over nine times."

"That's so wasn't my fault. He has a tendency to fall asleep while we watch TV together. I thought you were okay with him staying over?" Sharpay asked grabbing her shower caddie from the closet. "Have you seen my shower shoes?"

"I think you left them under your bed. I am fine with it. As long as things stay PG, it is okay for you to sleep with your teddy bear. I'm scarred for life after walking in on my last roommate using her boyfriend as a lollipop."

"That's just disturbing." Sharpay said cringing in disgust.

"I still shudder at the thought. Although, I wonder how long you and Chad will be able to keep things PG. There is too much sexual tension between the two of you. 5 minutes ago, you were moaning his naming your sleep.

"I was not moaning his name," she denied Amanda's accusations. Considering the type of dream she was having, it was possible. Normally Sharpay did not have these types of dreams. There was that one set of dreams involving Chad in a police uniform and handcuffs. Sharpay was sure that dream did not count. Unfortunately, because of Chad she has been having them a lot more often. This is the first one where she told Chad that she loved him.

"I don't know why you're blushing. It's okay for you to have NC 17 dreams about your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend. He's just a friend."

"A friend who practically lives here, he even has his own dresser drawer. You talk to him on the phone constantly, if he is not here. I am sure that you cannot go more than 5 minutes without text messaging each other. If this is friendship I hate to see what love is like."

"I do that with all my friends." Just then, Sharpay's phone indicated a text message. Sharpay tried to push her phone away, but Amanda grabbed it.

"Let's see who's sending a message. It is your not-a-boyfriend. He says 'good morning mountain lion?' What does that mean?"

"It's an inside joke. It doesn't matter, he has a girlfriend." Sharpay said as she left the room for her shower. Amanda just gave her the 'who are you kidding' look.

"I'll believe that you two are just friends the moment you show up with someone else." Amanda said under her breath.

* * *

Chad quickly closed his phone after sending a good morning text message to Sharpay. Currently Chad was going 0 for 2 in the roommate lottery. His current roommate was driving him absolutely crazy. Chad thought it was statistically impossible to meet someone who was messier than he was. Unfortunately, Blaze made Chad look like Martha Stewart. In addition, it seemed like every other night Blaze's girlfriend would sleep over. Unfortunately, these were NC 17 sleepovers. He could hear noises from Sharpay's room down the hall. He already walked in on them twice in the room and once in the bathroom. The images wouldn't leave his mind."

Fortunately, Sharpay's roommate Amanda had no problem if he stayed with Sharpay. Last night he had no choice but to stay in his own dorm room due to a last minute chemistry assignment. On this Wednesday morning, he was trying to make a pathway to the computer as his roommate was taking a shower. In his head, Chad was already calculating how much extra it would cost to get a single dorm room. Blaze walked in to the room and threw his towel on the floor.

"Didn't we talk about getting dressed in the bathroom?" Chad said to his now naked roommate as he covered his eyes.

"I left my underwear in here." Blaze said as he bent over the pick up his underwear.

"Dude put some pants on."

"I don't know why you have such a problem with nudity. By the way, could you stay at your girlfriend's this weekend? Ginger wants to come over."

"Sharpay is just a friend. My girlfriend goes to school 2000 miles away. However, I can probably hang out with Sharpay this weekend. "

If Ginger was coming over Chad did not want to stay. Maybe he could talk Sharpay into staying at the mansion this weekend. He was sure Amanda was getting tired of him in the room all the time. Then again, Amanda loved teasing him and Sharpay about their relationship just as Kim did.

That was the other thing that was bothering Chad the paternity of Kim's son Alex. Since he found out about the possibility of Alex's parentage 19 days ago, Chad could not get up the courage to ask Troy if he slept with Kim. He tried calling Troy 18 different times to ask him, but Chad never had the courage to follow through. There was no easy way to ask this question and Chad was not sure he wanted the answer. In addition, he was sure Troy was clueless about the entire situation and Chad did not want to be the one to tell him.

On this particular day, Sharpay was getting really tired of everybody thinking Chad was her boyfriend. Two students in the cafeteria commented about how cute she looked with her boyfriend. Erica in her pre calculus class kept talking about how she wish she had a boyfriend who would walk her to class each morning. The whole situation made Sharpay frustrated and depressed. Chad was not her boyfriend even though part of her wished he was. He was in love with Taylor and Sharpay was really tired of not having a love of her own. That morning Chad was late to meet her after pre calculus and she ended up walking to English alone for the first time. She decided to sit next to Joshua, a very cute sophomore from Arizona.

"Did you and your boyfriend have a fight?" Joshua asked her as she sat down.

"I don't know why everybody thinks he's my boyfriend?" Sharpay mumbled under her breath

"Because you walk in holding hands all the time or the fact you two seemed to be in your own world most of the time."

"He's just a friend." At least Josh did not give her that look that everybody else gave her when she said that phrase.

"Since you and Chad are just friends than it would be okay for me to ask you out Friday?" Normally Sharpay would turn him down just on principle. Josh was not her type. He did not play basketball. He did not wear stupid tee shirts with outlandish catch phrases. He did not drive her absolutely crazy. He did not understand everything about her. She knew she could not spend half the night talking to Joshua on the phone. Essentially, he was not Chad. However, Chad was not available as a boyfriend. Therefore, Josh would have to do.

"Sure let me give you my phone number," Sharpay said as she tore a piece of paper out of her notebook and wrote down the number for him. If Sharpay were a more observant person, she would notice a very jealous Chad watching from the hallway.

* * *

Amanda was currently sitting with her high school friend Nikki and her partner in insanity Marc was watching the latest installment of the Chad and Sharpay mating game.

"Are you sure they're not sleeping together? " Mark asked her.

"Positive, he is sleeped over nine times and the worst I've seen was him grabbing her breast when they were both asleep. Besides if sex was involved I don't think they would be fighting this much."

"They are so cute together." Nikki said from the other couch.

"Only, if the two of them will figure that out. He has a girlfriend and she is going out on a date with someone else Friday night. Those two are driving me crazy with this complete denial of their feelings. I am this close to locking them in the dorm room until they finally get out of their system." Amanda screamed in irritation.

As if on cue, Chad and Sharpay walked out in the hallway arguing. "I don't know why you are so upset. It is just a date. People go on them all the time in college."

"I just thought we had plans," Chad said trying to cover of his anger and disappointment at the situation.

"You have other friends Chad. You can go out with one of them for one night. Besides I should be able to have a boyfriend since you have a _**girlfriend**_."

"I thought you said this was just a date."

"It is. The first step in getting a boyfriend is going out on dates. How can I meet anybody if I spend every Friday night with you?"

Amanda was almost positive she saw Chad mouth, "I don't want you to have a boyfriend." However, Amanda's lip reading skills were not the best, so she could not be sure.

"You're an adult Sharpay you can do whatever you want. If you want to go on a date with someone, you barely know, you can. Just remember to bring pepper spray," Chad remarked as he began to walk down the hall to his room.

"Did you not see me render a 170 pound basketball player unconscious, three weeks ago? I can take care of myself. Besides I always carry two cans of pepper spray." Sharpay said this last part under her breath.

"Whenever Sharpay," Chad said as he unlocked his dorm room door. Unfortunately, for him Blaze and his girlfriend were testing out the strength of Chad's desk. The other four occupants of the community room could see the disturbing scene perfectly well.

"Dude, can you please keep it to your bed. At the very least can you do it only on your own furniture?" Chad said as he closed the door behind the oblivious couple. Walking back to the community room with a disgusted look on his face Chad sat down next to Amanda on the sofa. "Does anybody know when the next roommate exchange is?"

"After thanksgiving," Amanda replied helpfully.

"Oh god that's 2 1/2 months from now. Can I stay with you guys again tonight?" Chad asked Amanda and Sharpay.

"Sure it's fine as long as your girlfriend is no longer mad at you." Chad stopped correcting the girlfriend comment after Amanda's fourth day of living with Sharpay.

"I should send you back in there with a can of Lysol after the way you acted today. But I need help on my chemistry lab homework for tomorrow." Sharpay said smiling.

"Is homework help the only thing I'm good for?" Chad asked Sharpay.

"No, you make a really good pillow. Come on before I change my mind and make you sleep on the couch." Sharpay said as they left the common area.

"Is it just me or do they sound like an old married couple?" Nikki asked her two friends.

"Two minutes ago they were fighting and now they're all perfect couple." Mark pointed out to the group.

"The problem is there not a couple. I don't know how much longer I can take this. They have to get together or I will kill them."

"You got to admit it's very entertaining. She is a better roommate than your last one." Mark pointed out to Amanda.

"Blaze was probably a better roommate then my last one."

Just then they heard screaming coming out of Chad's dorm room.

"Maybe not. Do you think it's possible for us to vote someone off the floor?"

"I am not sure, but if I catch him and Ginger in the bathroom one more time I'm going to find out." Marc said in disgust.

"You caught them in the bathroom. That's so disturbing." Nikki said with a shudder.

* * *

Two days later Amanda sat on her bed watching Sharpay get ready for her date with Josh.

"So where exactly is your Chad replacement taking you? " Amanda asked as she watched Sharpay put the finishing touches on her makeup.

"We're doing the traditional dinner and a movie thing. I think we're going to Ruby Friday's and then to see _Love the Musical_ at the local multiplex."

"So why aren't you guys going to a club or something like that. You had so much fun last week with your not-a-boyfriend at Cinder." Last week Chad and Sharpay went with Amanda to one of the hottest clubs in New Mexico. Every time another girl tried to approach Chad, Sharpay would scare her away. There was also the impromptu make out session when Penelope showed up.

"I really want to see this movie and Chad won't take me because it is a musical. The club would take too much time. I promise Chad I would hang out with him after the date tonight."

"Do you have any idea what you're doing? You are purposely making your date short so you can spend time with Chad. Aren't you worried that things might go really well and you might not come home tonight." Amanda's comment made Sharpay very uncomfortable.

"Amanda I know you don't know me yet, but I'm not easy. I don't even kiss a boy to the third date."

"I distinctly remember you making out with Chad at Cinder last week." For some reason things were different with Chad. After the Richard incident, she didn't even like being hug by family members. Part of the reason her acting was so bad in the spring musical was she was freaking out every time someone tried to touch her. In contrast, she had no problems with Chad showing any type of affection. Whether it be pretending to kiss or spending the night in his arms, she was comfortable with him.

"That doesn't even count. He's just a…"

"Don't say it. I don't believe you. I'm going out with Nikki and Marc to Purple Hills. Don't wait up. If you and Chad finally decide to come out of the land of denial, send me a text message or something. Walking in on Blaze and Ginger going at it in the study room yesterday was traumatic enough.

"That's just disturbing. I wonder if Lysol works on the mind?"

* * *

Unlike most of her peers, Kim usually spent Friday night's at home. Then again, unlike most of her peers she had a 20-month-old son. She was currently talked to her ex boyfriend/baby daddy on the phone about their crazy friends who were in complete denial. Of course, the ex boyfriend/ baby daddy had no idea he was the babies daddy, but that is a completely different set of issues.

"Thursday I had to sit through 2 hours of Chad trying to convince Sharpay not to go on a date with Josh. This was followed by a 20 minute ride to EHS where Sharpay pretty much begged me to keep Chad occupied for the duration of the date tonight."

"You agreed to baby sit Chad tonight?"

"I'm used to taking care of children. We're taking Alex to Pizza Village. We would go to the other place, but the mouse scares Alex."

"I was afraid of the mouse as a kid." At least now, she knew where Alex got it from.

"I think Chad is only going because of the ball room and the basketball related arcade games. Also having a two year old with us means we can play all the games without getting funny looks."

"You really know how to have fun." Troy said sarcastically. She wanted to say 'I do these things because I'm taking care of your son'. However, Kim holds her tongue.

"So what will you and the FMG be doing?" Kim couldn't bring herself to call Gabriella by her actual name.

"Do you have to call her that?"

"I would call her something else, but Alex is in the room. So what will you be doing with your **girlfriend**?"

"My **girlfriend** is involved with rush this week."

"Even Sharpay isn't doing the sorority thing. Is Gabriella joining a traditional Latina sorority? They usually do more public outreach then traditional Greek sororities. I heard she is into helping people. "

"Traditional Greek. Anyway a couple of my friends from the drama department are going to see this experimental theater group that performs a hip hop version of Romeo and Juliet. How are things going at EHS?" She had a feeling he was trying to change the subject away from Gabriella.

"Sharpay is now happy because Ms. Darbus is letting her be more than a glorified gopher. Anita is now student body president. Jimmy, who has stopped hitting on Sharpay, is now captain of the basketball team."

"She still mad about me telling him she had a crush on him, isn't she?"

"Pretty much. Whose idea was that anyway?"

"Gabriella," of course it was her idea.

"Your dad still gives me the evil eye every time I pass by. All the students love me, so that is something."

"My dad does not hate you."

"It doesn't matter. Let me tell you the best part, Jason, Taylor's brother is the head cheerleader for team Chadpay. After reading his journal for English class, I'm pretty sure he's suffering from Marsha Brady syndrome. Maybe that's why he's cheering for the other team."

"If you spent a significant amount of time with Taylor McKessie you would understand why her own brother would be cheering for the competition. All she cares about is being perfect and how people see her. Even after the breaking free movement, she made fun of everyone who did not meet her standards."

"That explains why Chad stayed in the genius closet after BFM."

"It also explains why he's so terrified to break up with Taylor over the telephone." Troy mumbled into the phone.

"He mentioned breaking up with Taylor?"

"More than once,"

"There's a God. Speaking of Chad, he is pulling up in the driveway driving Sharpay's guilt gift from daddy dearest. "

"She is letting him drive her convertible. She did not even let Ryan drive the convertible." Troy said in shock.

"Not the convertible, the shiny new Lexus. It seems that the twins gift for going off to college where shiny new Lexus Don't worry she gets to keep the convertible, it's just getting a paint job. Apparently, Sharpay is so over pink as a car color. She let Chad pick out the new color."

"Do they realize their acting like a married couple?"

"No," Kim said as she grabbed their son's hand to get ready to leave.

* * *

Thirty minutes into her date, she knew it was going to be a disaster. Instead of taking her to the semi decent Ruby Friday's, they were at the drunken college student infested Tuesday club. The only redeeming quality was their absolutely fabulous grilled Caesar salad. He has already asked her three times if she wanted something to drink harder than water.

"I am only 18," she said in annoyance every time.

"That does not matter here. Why do you think I chose this place?"

How could he know the Sharpay does not drink except under certain conditions. Those conditions were usually a good bottle wine at dinner when Chad was with her. Actually, the only time she felt comfortable enough to drink was when she was with Chad. She did not know this Joshua person very well and definitely didn't trust him enough to have her senses impaired by alcohol.

If the conversation stays as one sided as it was now, she will never know anything about Josh. He does not try to engage her in conversation. He lets her spend15 minutes talking about playing mini golf with Chad two weeks ago.

If she was having this conversation with Chad, he would have interrupted her 10 times and eventually bring up how badly she played that one time to get Troy's attention. They would probably get in a fight and it would be so much fun. Sharpay never thought she would say this, but she was getting very tired of talking about herself.

Forty-five minutes into this dinner she was wondering if she can sneak to the bathroom and call Chad to come get her. Maybe he can say that she had a family emergency or something. No, she will stick this out. She really does want to go see that movie and there is no way she can talk Chad into going to anything that girly.

* * *

Chad was actually having fun at Pizza Village in the Eastside mall. Kim was starting to become a good friend. He was currently playing the kid Basketball game with Alex. Chad was discovering the best part of going to one of these places with a kid is that it was okay to cheat to make the child feel better. He was able to place Alex's balls in the ski ball slot and no one looked at him funny. However, he didn't need to cheat for Alex on any basketball related game. As soon as he put the little basketball in Alex is hand, he knew what to do. For a two year old, Alex made a remarkable amount of baskets. Chad remembered his mom saying that Troy and him were born to play basketball. It seemed that Alex had gotten that to.

At this point Chad was 90% sure of Alex's paternity. The thing that made him absolutely sure was when they were ordering the pizza 10 minutes later.

"Do you mind if we order the pizza without sauce. Alex is allergic to tomatoes. I have no idea where it comes from. No one in my family has that allergy." Chad knew it came from Troy. Actually when they were working at lava springs and Troy was acting like a complete ass, Chad made sure they put tomatoes on everything Troy ordered. Chad did it to drive Troy crazy.

"You can get pesto or Alfredo sauce on your pizza here. Unlike the mouse pizza place, the food here is actual pizza not microwave cardboard. Besides, I am used to not having tomato sauce on my pizza. Troy's really allergic to tomatoes." The shock look in Kim's eyes told him everything, Troy was Alex's dad.

"Then let's get a number three with pesto sauce." Just as he was contemplating whether he should tell her that Troy was also allergic to strawberries, he saw Sharpay and heard date walked into David Buster's House of Games. Apparently, Joshua took his suggestions for the date.

"I thought they were going to see _Love the Musical_." Kim asked as they moved up to the cashier. "We'll have a number three with a pesto sauce substitution and extra order of cheese sticks. Can we get honey mustard with that instead of tomato sauce?"

"There is no way I am letting that guy take her to a dark movie theater. There is only one reason to take girls to movies like that. It is so you can fool around during the boring scenes."

"You know Sharpay's not that type of person."

"I know Sharpay's not that type of person. I just didn't want to have to bail her out of jail for causing a public disturbance in a movie theater or for assault on her date. I suggested Joshua take her their instead. Besides, I will take her to see the movie tomorrow night." Chad said as they walked back to the table to wait for their food.

"I thought you said guys only take girls to those type of movies to fool around?"

"She's my best friend, or rather one of them. That would never happen." He didn't say this because he had a girlfriend. At this point, he felt he was dating Taylor on a technicality. He didn't want to breakup with her over the telephone.

"Friends don't sabotage their friend's date. You definitely don't see her as just a friend." Under normal circumstances he would argue the point that Sharpay was indeed just a friend. Today he would use this opportunity to get the answer to a very provocative question.

"Why didn't you tell me that Troy was Alex's dad?"

* * *

Sharpay Evans was very annoyed that her date decided to take her to David Buster's House of Games instead of _Love the Musical_. The only advantage to coming to a place like this is that Joshua wouldn't try to grab her breasts during the boring scenes of the film. If she was here with Chad she would be having fun, instead she hated every minute here. The first problem occurred when she paid for the gaming cards.

"This is a date. I thought I was going to pay?"

"This is a date in 2008. You pay for dinner and I pay for the games. Chad has no problem when I pay for everything."

"I'm not Chad. You seem to keep forgetting that." He muttered under his breath

She remembered perfectly clear that he was not Chad. If Chad were here, she could be herself. If Chad were here, she could actually play these games at her full ability. Instead, she was doing the same thing she did when she played golf with Troy. She was playing bad on purpose to make Josh feel better. The only thing that did was make her hate this date even more. After ten more minutes of purposely losing games to him, he quickly excused himself to the restroom. She knew it was an excuse to get away from her. Just as she suspected, she saw him leaving the arcade through the window.

She was not angry; she was just a bit hurt. It was not that she really liked Josh. It just hurt that she was ditched once again. As she walked outside through the other entrants, she wondered what it was about her that made people leave. She was about to call for a taxi when she noticed the black Lexus with the Shar II license plate parked out front.

She remembered that Kim was going to distract Chad by the two of them taking Alex to Pizza Village. Pizza Village was located across the hallway from the House of Games. She had a feeling that Josh's decision to change their date may have had a little help from a certain curly haired basketball player. It didn't matter because at lease this way she now had a ride home.

She quickly got her keys out of her purse and got into the car. If she wasn't so upset she would probably go join them at Pizza Village. She didn't feel like it right now. She considered calling her therapist to talk about her inadequacies as a girlfriend. However, she was sure that her therapist, that she just started seeing again, would be upset that Sharpay was ruining her evening for something so silly. Her second thought was to call up her ex boyfriends and figure out why they left her. She is still not speaking to Zeke. There was no way she would ever talk to Richard voluntarily. Besides sexual assault was an automatic relationship killer. She would let Chad deal with Josh on Monday.

She decided to call the only guy that she was actually willing to talk to. Not that she actually dated him, It was more like crush that was never reciprocated. She quickly pulled out her phone and call Troy.

"Hi Sharpay, aren't you supposed to be on a date right now?"

"Yes, unfortunately he ditched me at the mall. I decided to sit in my car in the mall parking lot and figure out why people do stupid things. Because you are the only ex I have that I'm still on speaking terms with, I decided to call you to figure out why no one loves me."

"We'd never really dated Sharpay."

"If we did I probably wouldn't be speaking to you either right now. You probably would have slept with Gabriella behind my back."

"You know I would never do anything like that."

"You're a good person Troy Bolton. You're not with Gabby right now are you?"

"She had a sorority commitment. I was supposed to go with my friends to the hip-hop version of Romeo and Juliet. they got the dates mixed up. We are watching someone throw balloons of paint at a canvas. I rather talk to you, then be in there."

"You're getting really involved with the arts. Although I cannot believe that shy Gabriella is joining a sorority. I'm not joining a sorority, although I am not a sorority person.

"She is not that shy anymore. She is starting to go wild now that she is away from her mom. Besides, you know how she likes to belong within a group." move

"I know. I've seen the pictures. Do you have to keep sending me pictures of your girlfriend's breasts? Mine are so much better than hers." He wants to tell her that is what Chad said, but he thought better of it.

"Sharpay you are not a sorority person. You wouldn't make it through rush without beating up one of the girls."

"I'm just not good at taking orders."

"You're much better at giving them."

"So back to the question, why couldn't you love me?"

* * *

The server just brought their food and he knew that Kim would have to come back to the table. As soon as he asked her _**the question,**_ she ran away saying something about Alex wanting to play in the ball room. He knew it was just an excuse to avoid his question. She probably would have stayed out there all night if little Alex did not run for the table when he saw the food. Alex was definitely Troy's kid.

Kim sat down and started to cut the pizza into little pieces for Alex to eat.

"So are you finally ready to answer my question?"

"Not really. How did you figure it out? I didn't exactly give you any clues."

"It was easy, ones I stopped assuming my best friend was still a member of the V club. Alex looks so much like Troy. He acts like he did when he was little. I have known Troy since the day I was born. I think what was hard to accept was Troy just isn't the type of person to have a random one-night stand."

"Alex was not the result of a one-night stand. We were in a relationship that lasted almost seven months." That fact shocked him more than anything else. How could Troy hide something like that from him for seven months?

"Why didn't he tell me?" Chad didn't mean to say that out loud.

"You know how jealous you get every time he was with somebody new. He told me all about the winter musical incident. Remember how bad the social apartheid was during your sophomore year? If the star basketball player and the drama girl got together, things would completely fall apart. Not to mention, I'm 2 ½ years older than him. It's OK for a senior boy to date a sophomore girl. However, no one could take it if it was the other way around."

He knew she was right the school couldn't take it at that time.

"Why didn't you guys tell me? I would've been upset, but I would have understood."

"You understand now. You are not the person you were 2 ½ years ago. You have grown up a lot. You understand that love has no common sense and cares nothing about social standing. I don't think you could understand what love was back then. Sometimes, I don't think he understood it. But I know that he loved me."

"You loved him and he loved you?"

"You sound shocked?

"It's just hard to conceive. He really loves you?"

"Part of me thinks he still does. He told me he did a couple weeks ago. I just don't think he will ever forgive me."

"Did you leave when you found out you were pregnant?" Chad remembered how distracted Troy was during June of sophomore year.

"No, his mom found out we were sleeping together. She threatened to never let Troy play basketball again and have sent me to jail for statutory rape if I didn't leave. I couldn't let her hurt him. I had to leave. I loved him so much, but I didn't have a choice. " He passed her a tissue as she started to cry.

"During summer session at the University of Manhattan, I passed out in one of my classes. That is when I found out I was three months pregnant. I was so scared. If I even thought about calling Troy his mother would have me arrested. I was alone."

"I know you weren't alone, at the very least you had Sharpay. What about your parents?"

"You forget this was right after the Richard incident. She was such a mess. You did not see her after it first happened. She couldn't even let Ryan hug her. It's why she spent the whole summer traveling with her dad. As for my parents, my dad is just starting to talk to me again. That wretched woman who gave birth to me still hates me and will not acknowledge my child because he's half White. She told me to get an abortion. When I said no, she used my trust fund to force me to give Alex up for adoption. My stepmom was the only person who stood by me. She even found a way to get my trust fund restored which is why I'm not going to college, working fulltime, and taking care of a child."

"Why did you decide to keep the baby? I doubt this was a planned pregnancy. This is probably an instance of the condom breaking at the wrong time."

"No condoms were destroyed in the production of my child. More like not reading the antibiotics label. Did you know that birth control pills are less effective when on antibiotics? As for keeping my child, I couldn't lose the last thing that connected me to the person I love the most."

"Yet you couldn't tell him."

"He was just 16 when Alex was born. He was not ready for it. I was barely ready it. There comes a point in everyone's life that they must confess a truth that will change everything. Yet you are too scared two confessed that truth. You are too afraid of the consequences, if that truth sees the light of day. " He was going through that right now

"I understand. I realize something a few weeks ago and I'm still too scared to confess it."

"That you love Sharpay or that you don't love Taylor?" His eyes went wide with her statement.

"Don't deny it. You don't love Taylor. Even her little brother knows that. You are just too afraid to tell her. At the same time, you fell in love with Sharpay. You don't know how it happened because you were supposed to hate her. Trust me I get it. I didn't start tutoring Troy with the intention of falling in love with him. It just happened."

"How did we get to this point? You are too afraid to tell Troy that you had his child. I'm too afraid to tell Taylor that I don't love her and that I maybe falling in love with Sharpay." That was the first time he ever admitted that he may be in love with Sharpay.

"We can't keep quiet anymore. I think we are both afraid. In my case I'm scared that Troy will completely reject me and Alex."

"He won't do that."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. Trust me. Let's make a deal. I will tell Taylor the truth when she comes in October if you tell Troy when he comes for Thanksgiving in November?"

"Deal. What are you going to do about Sharpay?"

"The first thing I'm going to do is go scare off her date."

"I don't think you'll need to do that anymore," Kim said as she pointed to Joshua leaving the game center.

* * *

"You never ask easy questions do you?"

"Not really. I just want to know why I'm unlovable."

"You're not unlovable."

"Yes I am. Name one person who loves me."

"Chad," Troy said the name without any hesitation whatsoever.

"He doesn't love me. He loves Taylor." Troy never heard Taylor's name said with so much venom before in his life. He chose to focus on the Taylor part because maybe he should not tell Sharpay something that she is not ready to hear.

"He told me he didn't love Taylor, he is just not sure how to tell her."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"So you don't make the mistake I did. Just so you know things didn't work out between you and me not because I didn't like you. I did like you; I just do not think I was ready to go into another real relationship. There was also the fact that I'm pretty sure that Chad was convincing me not to go after you because he had a crush on you."

"Chad had a crush on me?"

"He said you were cute," Troy said editing out the mountain lion comment.

"That's sweet."

"If you and I would have gotten together, it would have been a real relationship that would be complicated and messy. With Gabriella, it was just this easy simple thing. It was a friendship with occasional make out privileges. It was nothing like the relationship I had with…"

"I don't understand. I thought the only real relationship you have ever had was with Gabriella. You didn't exactly date anyone before her."

"That you know of." Troy said mysteriously. "Sophomore year I was with a girl for seven months. No one knew about it. I did not even tell Chad. I was completely in love with her, but she left me. At the time, I thought she left me because she didn't love me. I found out recently that she left to protect me. It does not matter because I'm stuck with Gabriella. I'm not even sure if I really love Gabriella or if I was making myself love her because I was afraid no one would ever really love me." He couldn't believe he was telling Sharpay these things. It must be the rum.

"I thought it was bad of me going out on a date with another guy just to get over the one I cannot have. You and I have some serious issues. I'm not staying in a relationship just for the sake of staying in a relationship. Been there, done that, moved on. I think you should leave the sorority girl and go find the real love of your life. Whoever she may be."

"Like I would ever tell you who she is." Troy said jokingly.

"You are almost as bad as Kim. She still will not tell me who Alex's father is."

"So that story that the two of you told me a month ago was a complete lie?"

"She made us promise not to tell you. I don't know why, it's not like you are the father. Even though I joke about the only reason why you're with Gabby is the sex, I know that's not true." His breath was starting to become rushed as he came to the conclusion that Sharpay was obviously in denial about. He needed one other piece of information to be sure.

"Hey Chad just found me in the car. I got to go." Before he could protest she hung up on him.

* * *

Chad spent the last 15 minutes looking for Sharpay. He looked in all her regular stores and couldn't find her. He decide to go outside to see if she was waiting for a taxi instead he solved the brunette talking on her phone in her car.

"So how bad did your date go?" Chad asked as he got in the car with her.

"Very badly. Next time I only go out with you. I mean, I will only go out with you as a friend."

"I understand what you meant the first time Sharpay." He knew that she meant it in a not friend way.

"So did you have fun with Kim and the munchkin?" she asked as she later head on his shoulder.

"You know Pizza Village is so much more fun when you actually have a kid there. I saw you being ditched by your date and I thought I would come get you to hang out with us. Besides Alex is a lot more fun than that idiot." She smiled at that.

"Thanks for the offer. I think I'll just stay here."

"I can call Kim to come to the car and we can drop her off. Then you and me can head back to the mansion. I think you will really want some puppy playtime.

"I don't know why they won't let me keep him in the dorms. He's so well behaved."

"I knew that would cheer you up" Chad said as he went to kiss her on the cheek. Instead, Sharpay accidentally, or at least that is what he is telling himself, moved slightly and he ended up kissing her on the lips instead.

"I'm sorry about that I didn't mean to move." She said blushing. He loved making her blush.

"That's okay. I think we are friends with kissing privileges. I mean we did make out at a club last week just to irritate Penelope."

"That was fun. What will your girlfriend say about our arrangement?"

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out in three weeks." He said kissing her forehead.

"I guess we will." Sharpay said lacing her fingers with his.


	12. Maybe I could Have Handle This Better

Thank you to everybody who read the last chapter. Yes, this is another one of those extremely long chapters. We have come to the moment that we've all been waiting for.

Disclaimer: I do not own. The fake retail chain Smarty Mart is borrowed from Kim Possible another Disney property that I miss greatly.

Rated M for some coarse language

**Chapter 12: Maybe I could Have Handle This Better**

**October 10 2008 4:15 PM**

Amanda knew this day was going to come seven weeks ago when she saw Sharpay exit Chad's room in nothing but a T-shirt. She knew this day was coming when she found out that her new friend was in love with a man who already had a girlfriend. She knew this day was coming when she discovered that Chad was afraid to tell said girlfriend, that he was in love with someone else. She knew this day had arrived when Taylor took a baseball bat to their room 45 minutes ago after Amanda accidentally gave Taylor access to some very incriminating information. Amanda really did like that television that Taylor crushed. Now Amanda, Marc, Nikki, and Jason McKessie sat in the common room watching the greatest fight in A of U history.

"It was bad enough that you went after Gabby's man. Now you are going after my idiotic boyfriend like a lost puppy. Now that Troy is not available, you have to go after his best friend? You're so pathetic. Why would anybody love a cheap whore like you? " Taylor said in pure hatred as she threw another couch cushion at Sharpay.

"There's nothing cheap about me. I'm not the one who shops at Smarty Mart." At this remark Taylor threw a textbook at Sharpay, which took out a lamp instead.

"Is she aware that Chad has a 4.0 average and is technically a sophomore?" Nikki asked Jason as the verbal jabs continued between the girls.

"Chad, kept his intelligence a secret in high school," Jason explained as he took pictures of the whole thing.

"I thought she was going to faint when she found out Chad was taking advanced chemistry." Amanda said avoiding a stray projectile from Taylor.

"Why isn't Sharpay fighting back physically? This is the same girl who knocked a basketball player unconscious." Marc said as he realized that Sharpay was only defending herself from Taylor's physical attacks.

"Guilt," both Jason and Amanda replied at the same time. They all knew that Sharpay could do some serious damage if she wanted to.

"Maybe we should go get the RA?" Nikki asked from the side.

"Only if someone starts bleeding," Amanda replied softly. "This needs to come out one way or another. At least Sharpay got the baseball bat away from her."

Apparently, another joke about Chad's lack of intelligence and unfaithfulness sent Sharpay over the edge. This resulted in a hard slap to Taylor's face.

"If you want to attack me, go ahead attack me. I did not survive four years of being the most hated person at East High without developing a thick skin. I don't care if you hate me. Everybody has at one point. Don't you ever say anything hateful about Chad again. Nothing you are accusing him of is true. Believe what you want about me. Call me every nasty word you can think of. I've been called worse. He does not deserve your anger."

"Stop playing innocent. It is a shame you are too stupid to cover your tracks. As if I would not find the slide show on your computer of your greatest make out moments with _MY BOYFRIEND_. How many times did _my boyfriend_ shove his tongue down your throat? On the other hand, maybe it was some other appendage you enjoyed orally. If the locker room rumors were true, you're very good at that sort of thing." Those comments got Taylor another slap.

"What is she talking about?" Jason asked the other three.

"Oral sex," Marc said before he remembered he was talking to a 12 year old.

"How is that different than regular sex?"

"Ask your health teacher or your mom." Amanda said as she smacked Marc upside the head. "There are children present."

"I don't think she remembers that." Nikki said pointing to Taylor as she started to go into another four-leather tirade.

"Your plans never work you conceded little bitch. If you think I'm going to let you take my boyfriend without a fight you have another thing coming. I doubt that he loves you. He loves me. No one can love a narcissistic beauty queen reject whose special talent is spreading her legs. He maybe a stupid basketball player, but he's my stupid basketball player." Taylor said as she tried to attack Sharpay again.

"She doesn't know, does she?" Marc said to the other three in a whisper.

"Not a clue." Amanda said quietly.

"I'd told Chad to break up with my sister over the phone. For a Genius he is a complete idiot. This is the same person who put my favorite video game in the garbage disposal because I read her diary."

"It is his twisted sense of honor. In Chad's mind, it's wrong to breakup with somebody over the phone." Amanda said to the others.

"This is going to be bad." Nikki muttered to herself as Sharpay when off on Taylor's lack of knowledge of her boyfriend.

"Do you know anything about your boyfriend? Do you even know what classes he is taking this semester? Do you know what he wants to be after college? Do you know anything about who he is now? Do you know what type of person he is? If you did know him, you wouldn't be making these stupid accusations. Do you still see him as that stupid basketball player that he was pretending to be in high school?"

"Like you know the answers to any of those questions. To him you are just an easy fuck. He probably hates you as much as he did in high school. He only wants you because you're here." Taylor said in pure anger and hate.

"That's not true Taylor. Don't you think I should have a say in this argument? Just like always you assume that you know how I feel when you don't, Taylor. You have no idea how I feel." Chad said walking into the room and instantly went to Sharpay without even thinking. Amanda could hear him whispering to Sharpay, "You are anything but easy and I love you anyway." Fortunately, Taylor was too far away to hear this inconvenient truth.

"You think I would not find out you were fucking the blonde ice queen bitch of east high?: Taylor said pulling out of black bra and throwing it at the two.

"That's another dollar for the swear jar. You think she would notice the new hair color," quipped Jason from the side.

"I wonder what happened to that bra." Sharpay said picking up the custom made garment.

"You wouldn't stop asking about it for two days." Chad said under his breath in a barely audible mumble.

"You left it in his room when you were _screwing_ my boyfriend." Taylor said looking for something else to throw.

"I did not sleep with your boyfriend." Sharpay muttered, not that Taylor was listening to anything at that point.

"This was not how I wanted you to find out." Chad said softly as he ran his hand through his hair.

"That you are cheating on me with this whore?" Taylor said as she threw another pillow at Chad and Sharpay.

"No, that he is in love with her. She is not a whore. She is my friend Taylor. Unlike you, she actually cares about someone other than herself and her GPA. You seriously need to grow up. Stop throwing a tantrum every time you don't get your way." Jason said to his sister. Amanda knew at that moment that all hell was going to break loose when she saw the look of murder in Taylor's eyes as she lunged for the object of her annoyance.

**October 9, 2008 7:49 PM**

"I've really think you should have told her over the phone. This is going to go really badly. We're talking about the same person who ran Gabriella's English essay through a paper shredder when Gabriella did better on an assignment. " Troy warns his best friend over the telephone. Chad didn't need the warning he remembered what happened at Prom when he accidentally brought the wrong color flowers. Maybe her anger was caused by the fact he wouldn't sleep with her after the prom. That apparently was some great violation of the boy code.

"There are something you don't tell someone over the telephone. How do I start that conversation? 'Hi Taylor, how are classes going? By the way, I'm in love with that girl I hated in high school.' There is no way I am doing that over the telephone. I barely want to do this in person, but Sharpay is scarier than Taylor. This is like telling someone they got you pregnant over the telephone.."

"Is there something you want to tell me?" Troy asked Chad calmly. For a second Chad wondered if Troy knew about Alex. Not wanting to have that conversation, he decided to assume the other meaning.

"The prerequisite events for that have not occurred. Neither Sharpay nor I do casual. We are definitely not going to do anything while I am still dating someone else. Unlike some people, I know I would tell my best friend something like that."

Troy finally told Chad all about his relationship with Kim, a couple weeks ago. Chad was almost sure Troy was unaware of the lasting consequences of that relationship. Though in recent days Troy has been asking a lot of questions about Alex that Chad avoids by any means necessary.

"You mean other than sleep in the same bed, hugging, and kissing each other every time you get a chance." Called Amanda from the computer as she listened to her textbook. It was true that he has spent almost every night of the last three weeks with Sharpay. There was some kissing, although most of it was on the cheek. Except where one of them would "accidentally" move their head. There was also that one make out session last night, but that was it. Did that really count as cheating on Taylor?

"I said I was sorry about the Kim situation. Who was that shouting in the background? " Troy asked his friend on the other side of the line.

"That is Sharpay's nosy roommate Amanda. Aren't you supposed to be listening to your reading for English class?" Chad yelled back to Amanda.

"I'm multitasking." Amanda said pulling off her headphones and walked over to Chad. Grabbing his phone she quickly switched it over to speaker mode.

"Hi this is Sharpay's roommate Amanda, who had to deal with these two lovesick fools. At least they have finally stopped saying they were just friends. I agree with you. I think he should have gotten this break up over with three weeks ago when he and Sharpay stopped denying their feelings. Chad, you should have told Taylor six weeks ago when you started spending the night with Sharpay, even though you were in your friends only sleepovers stage. You should have broken up with Taylor seven weeks ago when Sharpay came out of your bedroom in nothing but a T shirt. At this point no matter what you do, it's too late."

"It doesn't matter anymore. She will be here in the morning. By tomorrow night it will all be over." Chad said to both of them.

"You're planning on telling her tomorrow after she gets to know the real Sharpay. What if someone tells her about your "friendship" with Sharpay? Even I have a dozen pictures on my phone of the two of you making out. You cannot use the 'we were just pretending to freak out Penelope' line. We all know that you two like making out with each other too much."

"Were you listening to this entire conversation?" Chad asked the very nosy girl.

"You're in my room. I have a right to eavesdrop."

"No wonder you two are getting along so well." Chad muttered under his breath.

"Why are you in Sharpay's room when she is in Chem lab?" Troy asked as friend.

"Ginger and Blaze," the two answered simultaneously.

"I swear she puts Viagra in his food," Amanda said in annoyance.

"We're currently researching to see if there's a way that we can get him kicked out of the building." Chad said to Troy.

"I agree with Sharpay junior over there that you should tell Taylor right away. It would be better than her finding out accidentally."

"I just think it will be easier for her to take the news if she saw Sharpay for who she really is and not the girl she pretended to be in high school."

"I'm telling you this as your best friend; there are some things you don't want to find out accidentally. Finding out your boyfriend is in love with someone else is one of those things. You know, like accidentally finding out you got someone _pregnant_." The way Troy said that last sentence made Chad very worried. Using Sharpay's imaginary presence as an excuse, Chad ends the phone call quickly.

"I think Sharpay is back. I got to go." Chad said slamming the phone down.

"Why do I have the feeling that you two are deliberately not talking about something?" Amanda said to Chad in disbelief.

"I'll tell you the day after Thanksgiving." Chad said cryptically.

**October 10, 2008 7:43 AM**

"I can't believe you're making me pick up your girlfriend from the Airport," Sharpay said sitting in the cafeteria eating her fruit salad. Although she did not have any classes on Friday other than volunteer work at EHS, she still woke up extra early so they could eat breakfast together.

"You know I have chemistry lab today. Besides, she is only technically my girlfriend. In my heart, that relationship is over. I just think maybe things would go better if she had a chance to actually see what a good person you are." Ever sense three weeks ago, when they finally admitted that they were not quite just friends, they have been in this weird space between platonic friend and romantic lover. Sharpay felt like she was holding back out of respect for someone who never respected her. Of all the people who hated Sharpay in high school, Taylor was the one who did it with the most animosity.

"What am I to you?" she needed him to say it. She needed him to reassure her that Taylor being here wouldn't make him change his mind. She could not lose him. He meant too much to her.

"Everything," he said as he kissed her on the cheek. That was the problem. She had a feeling that those words that Troy said to her three weeks ago were more than just wishful thinking. She couldn't help but feel like the Penelope in this situation. Chad was breaking up with Taylor because of her and she couldn't help but feel guilty. Before she could continue her self-loathing about the situation, her phone rang.

"Hello," Sharpay said into the phone.

"Do you have any classes today? Asked Sharpay's friend Kim.

"No, which is why I get to pick Taylor up from the Airport in 3 hours.

"I need a favor. Besides, you owe me for so many reasons."

"What do I need to do?"

* * *

Three hours later Sharpay found herself picking up Chad's almost ex girlfriend from the Airport, with Alex in the backseat. Kim's nanny was unable to come in today because she had the flu. Sharpay was sure it was the 'my boyfriend is in town and I want to have fun' flu. However, she did not say anything. Instead, she became the designated baby sitter. Now she was trying to entertain Alex in the backseat of the car, in the cell phone waiting area. The only thing that seemed to keep Alex quiet was watching a DVD of Twinkle Towne. Her favorite thing was every time Gabriella showed up on screen, Alex would throw a toy at the portable DVD player.

Finely 20 minutes after Taylor's plane was supposed to arrive she finally received a call. The first thing that Taylor told Sharpay after not seen her in almost five months was "Why are you here?"

"Good morning Taylor," Sharpay said in the nicest voice possible as she helped Taylor put her bags in the trunk.

"I thought Chad was coming to pick me up. What happened to the convertible?" Taylor said, as she looked for the person who she assumed would be there.

"He has his chemistry lab on Friday morning. He asked me to come get you instead because he couldn't miss that class. As for the car, this is my late graduation present. Ryan got one just like it. This car has more trunk space then the convertible. Besides Chad has that car today."

"My boyfriend is taking chemistry? That is a first. I didn't see him take one class in high school." Sharpay wanted to say it was because Chad was taking junior chemistry when we were in the ninth grade general science class. However, she promised Chad that she would let him tell Taylor all of his secrets. That included him being a super genius.

"He's taking Chemistry 153 this semester."

"The numbers must be different here. At my school that's the final class in the harder chemistry series." Sharpay kept quiet as they got in the car. Suddenly Taylor noticed the extra passenger.

"I know your reputation preceded you, but I don't remember you being pregnant in high school. Where did you get the kid from?" At Taylor's remark, Sharpay took a deep breath before she accidentally taught Alex a new dirty word.

"This is my friend Kim's son. Her nanny has the flu, so I volunteered to take care of him this morning since I don't have classes. You remember Kim? She was the vice president of the drama club when I was a freshman and sophomore."

"I didn't really pay attention to the drama club before Gabriella joined. Although I heard, my brother is now vice president. How did a 12 year old become vice president of the drama club?"

"He found a loophole in the bylaws that made it impossible for Tiara to become president." Just as they got back in the car, Alex started screaming for his juice box.

"You know I can drive so you can take care of Alex in the back." Taylor offered more out of getting Alex to stop screaming than anything else.

"That's okay, you're not on the insurance. He will calm down once I put the DVD on. Can you give him his juice out of the baby bag on the floor?

"You let Chad drive your car?" Taylor Asked as she passed the juice box to the little boy.

"Yes, but he's on the insurance."

"Why is my boyfriend on your car insurance?" Sharpay decided not to answer the question because it would incriminate her too much.

"Now you are being good for your aunt Sharpay. We have to meet Chad at Ruby Friday's at noon. I have to be at the school by 1:45 for my volunteer work."

"You are a volunteer? Taylor said in absolute shock.

"I get class credit for it, but yeah. I am working with one of the freshmen drama classes at EHS. Too bad your brother is taking English this semester. He is doing fabulous during the club rehearsals for the fall show.

"You know my brother?"

"Didn't you just hear me talk about him being Vice President of the drama club?" Sharpay said rolling her eyes. And people thought she was conceded. "He's in Kim's English class. In addition, he comes over some times to hang out with Chad after school. Your parents had been a little obsessed with the anniversary party lately. I drive him home sometimes so the 12th graders cannot put him in a locker again." Sharpay said as they go on to the freeway.

**October 10 12:30 PM**

If Taylor fought the car ride was painful, lunch was 1000 times worse. She expected to have a nice private lunch with her boyfriend. Instead, Sharpay was tagging along with the little brat. Instead of paying attention to her like a good boyfriend, he was focused on Sharpay and that kid. He insisted that Alex call him Uncle Chad. She had not seen him in 10 weeks and he rather talk to Sharpay that he saw every day. Just the thought of it made her so angry.

She knew Chad considered Sharpay to be a friend. This surprised her greatly, because Chad absolutely hated Sharpay in high school. Nobody laughed harder then Chad at the spring musical when Sharpay was humiliated. Now several months later, they are suddenly best friends forever. They finished each other's sentences and shared little jokes that Taylor did not get. She was almost positive she saw Sharpay steal some of Chad's French fries. When Taylor went to kiss her boyfriend he grabbed Alex in an obvious attempt to avoid her kiss completely. She was positive something was off, but she had no idea what.

Then again there was something off about the girl in front of her. She didn't recognize this Sharpay Evans. She did not even have the same color hair. Gone were the trademark gold locks, replaced with auburn Curls. Her style of dress was a bit more casual then what she wore in high school. This Sharpay was nice. Although she did make some snide comment about Taylor shoes. This Sharpay was currently cutting chicken fingers and carrot sticks for Alex without complaining about doing Manual laborer. The Sharpay Evans she knew from high school would never volunteer to take care of her friend's child. Though Taylor was sure high school Sharpay, did not have any friends.

This Sharpay Evans was a business major who got a 98 on her last pre calculus quiz. She was volunteering at EHS and drove Taylor's brother home every night so he wouldn't be picked on by bullies on the school bus. Sharpay was an honor student taking complex classes that discuss the definition of good and evil. Whom was this woman masquerading as the perfect person who could do no wrong? She couldn't be Sharpay Evans from high school. Something was not right.

"How are classes going?" Sharpay asked as she continued to monopolize Chad's attention.

Okay now she can hate Sharpay again for asking the one question she really didn't want to answer. For the first time in her academic career, Taylor was not getting perfect grades. At the moment she had a D average in her calculus class, a C minus in American history, and a C plus in chemistry. In her other two classes she was just barely pulling off a B. For Taylor McKessie this was as bad as failing.

Maybe it was because she was attending Yale University and the academic requirements were higher than some place like A of U. Taylor was not used to teachers that did not spoon feed every piece of information. For the first time Taylor had to think beyond black and white which was something she could not do. Apparently, Sharpay had no problem with this type of academic challenge because she didn't have a single great blow a B minus.

Sharpay was adjusting to college, while Taylor wished she could go back to high school. Sharpay had tons of friends in college. Taylor barely knew anyone. Sharpay had an actual life outside of classes. Taylor might as well put a cot in the library. The thing that bothered Taylor the most was Sharpay had the full attention of her boyfriend. Therefore, instead of saying how much she hated school she smiled and said everything was okay. When in reality Taylor was sure she just stepped into the twilight zone.

* * *

Sharpay was currently standing outside the stall of the family restroom waiting for Chad to finish up with Alex.

"I don't know why I have to be the one to take him to the bathroom." Chad said exiting the stall with Alex.

"Because you're the guy."

"My mom always took me to the bathroom when I was little." Chad said as they walked to the sink to wash their hands.

"That's because your dad probably had issues about diapers and potty training. I can tell you right now, if I ever let you get me pregnant were splitting dirty diaper duty and potty training. I'll even do a breast pump, just so you can do 3:00 AM feedings."

"You're already thinking about our future children. That is so cute, do you think they'll look like me." Chad said sarcastically as he touched her very flat stomach. "The prerequisite event has not happened yet."

"That prerequisite event will never happen if you don't man up and break up with your girlfriend. How hard is it to say 'Honey I think we should see other people. By the way, I'm already seeing Sharpay.'" Sharpay said in exasperation.

"We're not exactly dating right now," Chad said getting ready to take Alex back outside.

"We're not exactly not dating. As soon as you break up with the egghead in question, I may let you see my latest purchase from Lady Alexandra custom lingerie." Sharpay said with a wicked smile.

"Will I get to take it off?" He said in true Chad style, ignoring the two year old in the room.

"Not any time soon, especially if you keep delaying this breakup. I don't know why you just don't do it now."

"Maybe because she just invited herself over to study for the midterms she has in a week in hopes of avoiding the anniversary insanity. Can she stay in your room? I think it would be cruel to leave her with Blaze and Ginger for any significant amount of time."

"Sure, why not. This whole exercise is to prove to her that I'm not the heartless ice queen everybody thought I was in high school."

"Thank you," he said kissing her on the forehead.

"You better just be glad I didn't leave your T shirt lying on my bed this morning." She said quickly leaving the room with Alex.

* * *

Amanda was desperate to meet Taylor McKessie, the woman who has been causing so much pain for her friend Sharpay. So much that she was willing to skip her Friday afternoon English class, when Chad text messages her about their extra guest. It was not as if they were doing something that she could not get from Nikki later. She was just happy she did not have cheerleading practice today. For the last 20 minutes, she watched Chad's soon to be ex girlfriend yell at her roommate for 'accidentally' taking Taylor's laptop cord out of her bag last night. Amanda counted at least seven instances of the F word and eight of the B word.

Amanda felt Sharpay was definitely a lot prettier than Taylor. Ironically enough Sharpay was probably a nicer person. This was saying something, considering Sharpay through Maria Gutierrez's makeup in the trash after she took Sharpay's Chanel lipstick from the bathroom. In addition, Amanda did not like girls who wore extensions. Amanda preferred to show off how proud she was of her African heritage by wearing her hair as natural as possible. This week she was currently wearing braids.

"How am I supposed to watch the lectures now Tiffany? You could have at least ask me. This isn't like taking the last pop tart. She hung up on me. " Amanda would have done the exact same thing if Taylor said those things to her. Amanda's specific instructions were to keep Taylor as calm as possible before the scheduled stomping of the heart, therefore she proposed a solution that would keep the girl from freaking out over something so simple. If she was doing this over a laptop cord, Taylor was definitely going to explode when she finds out Sharpay took her boyfriend.

"You do not have to be so upset about it. It is not a big thing. Just use Sharpay's laptop. She won't mind. She lets Chad use her computer all the time."

"Of course she does." Taylor said angrily. "Saint Sharpay is perfect. She's even making good grades now that she's in college. She was a complete moron back in high school" Amanda just rolled her eyes at that comment. At her old high school, nobody thought a cheerleader with a learning disability could have a 4.0. She wondered if at Sharpay's school, the same apply to someone who wanted to be an actor.

"I doubt that it just started in college. She would not be in this dorm otherwise.

"What are you talking about?" The confused look on Taylor's face told Amanda that Taylor never considered Sharpay or maybe even her boyfriend for that matter to be intelligent.

"This is the honors dorm. No one is allowed to live here their first year unless they had a GPA of at least 3.5 in high school. No exceptions. Even Blaze, Chad psychotic oversexed roommate, meets these qualifications. I heard he was valedictorian at his school. If it makes you feel better, Sharpay was doing really bad in chemistry until Chad started tutoring her. He's so smart, but then again he's already in chemistry 153."

"Are we talking about the same Chad Danforth?" Taylor asked with her mouth on the floor in shock.

"Curly hair, light skinned, and wears T shirts that say things like 'my girlfriend can kick your ass and I'm okay with that'."

"You forgot to mention basketball obsessed."

"Not really. He's on the team, but that's about it. Just let me put Sharpay's password in for you". Amanda said taking the computer out of its designer carrying case, who according to Chad matches her puppy carrying case perfectly.

"You know her password?"

"She writes it down on a sticky pad and then forgets about it." Amanda said as she typed in Chad'$mouNtaiNlioN. 45 minutes later when Amanda sees Taylor take a baseball bat to Sharpay CD collection she will regret giving her access to those files.

* * *

"What do you mean I have to take him to class?" Sharpay said with hands on her hips. "Not that I don't love my pseudo nephew. I thought Ms. Ortega said you could switch periods?"

"Under normal circumstances I could. Unfortunately, I am supposed to be teaching the lesson today. I cancat switch classes for that. Ms. Darbus said it was fine if you took him into the drama class. She said something about the students learning how to work with children."

"Well he does have his mother skills. Is there any chance we can borrow him for the fall production?"

"Only if he has his own dressing room." Kim said handing Alex to Sharpay once more.

* * *

Taylor was almost convinced she was trapped in some parallel universe where everybody is the opposite of what they are supposed to be. How could her boyfriend be smart? How could Sharpay have better grades than her? She didn't want to believe any of it. Any moment she hoped to wake up and stupid jock Chad and ditzy Sharpay would be back.

In hopes of proving this is all some elaborate joke, Taylor decided to snoop through Sharpay's computer files to see if her work was really that good. To her disappointment, all her papers were well written with perfect grammar. Sharpay's writing also reflected creativity that Taylor didn't have. Then Taylor found a PowerPoint presentation labeled the best of Chad and Sharpay. Of course, she had to look. As she saw pictures of the two of them hanging out at various places on campus, her first thought was that her boyfriend spent way too much time with Sharpay Evans. Twenty-eight shots in she saw a picture of Sharpay kissing someone that looked a lot like Chad. She quickly went through the rest of this presentation finding 10 more make out pictures.

Taylor quickly searched the hard drive for more evidence. There was no way her boyfriend was cheating on her with Sharpay Evans. Everything else she found supported that Conclusion. She found everything from loved emails to a video file of the two making out in a water fountain. She tried to tell herself that it was someone else that just looked a lot like Chad. In her heart, she knew she was wrong. She was about to go back to looking at the video files when she heard shouting coming from across the hall. Taylor quickly went outside to watch the disturbance.

"Whose bra is this?" Shouted a very tall blond at her boyfriend. "I'm not a 32 C." The girl spat out throwing a black bra at the object of her disdain.

"That's probably Chad's girlfriend. You know how they are," Replied the boy.

"I am Chad's girlfriend and that's definitely not mine." Taylor said to the two.

"You're not Chad's girlfriend." Said the angry blonde. "She is some brainy double major who wears the latest styles. You look like you just stepped out of Smarty Mart."

"That is Sharpay Ginger, she is just his friend." Amanda called from the common area with what Taylor assumed were her friends. Taylor found Amanda's words reassuring until Ginger said the next thing.

"He spends the night with her _All The Time_. People don't sleep over with their friends."

Before she knew what was happening Taylor stood in Chad's bedroom with his baseball bat in her hand smashing the picture of Sharpay on his nightstand. She felt someone try to pull her away from smashing Chad's desk lamp. She just pushed them back. She was too mad to stop. She would destroy everything in that lying bastard's room before she went after the bitch that was fucking him.

* * *

Sharpay Evans was not in a good mood. Although she was having fun watching some of the students trying to act with Alex, she could not stop thinking about the girl studying in her dorm room. Tonight was going to be ugly and she could not help but feel guilty. It was as if what was about to happen was all her fault. So distracted by guilt over Taylor, she forgot to put her cell phone on silent. For the first time in seven weeks of working at EHS someone called her during class time. Her cell phone was now in the Darbus collection.

As she was begun to go over the next scene with Jackie, Jimmy and Alex, Kim and Jason ran on to the stage.

"What are you doing here Ms. Kim, I assure you your child is fine."

"Unfortunately Sharpay's dorm room is not. Your roommate was trying to call you, but she couldn't get a hold of you." Kim said looking at Ms. Darbus.

"I'm sure whenever it is can wait until class is over. Just then, Kim passed the phone to Ms. Darbus.

"If only she would channel that aggression into the theater. I think you need to leave now Ms Evans. You can make up the time another day." Ms. Darbus said this as she passed back the phone to Kim and then went to get Sharpay's out of the collection. Sharpay quickly opened the screen to see a picture of Taylor slamming a baseball bat into her plasma television. Sharpay went to grab her bag when she noticed Jason following her.

"What are you doing?"

"Last week mom added you to the list of people who could sign me out in an emergency. My sister having a nervous breakdown because she most likely discovered you are sort of dating her boyfriend qualifies as an emergency. Besides, you're going to need me to calm her down."

"Find you can come."

As she was leaving the room, she swore she heard Kim scream. "Where is my kid?"

* * *

Kim was panicking. Her kid was gone because Jimmy and Jackie were too busy watching her tell Sharpay the bad news. She was going to hurt them as soon as she tracked down her toddler. The school was huge. She should seriously consider a tracking device. After 5 minutes of not finding her child, she was starting to panic. Then she heard her son giggling. Her heart was calming down until she relies the sound was coming from the gymnasium. The one room she had been trying to avoid desperately for the last several weeks. As she walked into the gym, she saw her son playing with the man that probably hated her more than anything. She did not care. She just wanted her baby back.

"Don't you ever do that to mommy again. Thank you for finding him. He was supposed to stay with Sharpay in the theater, instead he ran away as he always does."

"Don't worry Troy did the same thing when he was Alex's age." Before she had time to figure out exactly how jack Bolton knew her son's name, he asked the one question she did not want to hear.

"Exactly when were you going to tell me that I was a grandfather?"

* * *

Before Taylor could attack her brother for saying such horrible lies to her, a very angry Sharpay pulled her back. She had no idea the girl was that strong. She couldn't get away from her no matter how hard she pulled.

"Let go of me you ice queen Witch." Taylor said as she fought Sharpay to let her go.

"Not until you calm down. You almost attacked an innocent 12 year old. You want to fight someone, fight me. Because trust me, I will kick your ass. Don't you dare touch Jason. You are going to stand here and listen." Sharpay said turning her around to face Chad.

"Why do I need to listen? I don't want to hear you two lie about how you're not fucking each other. Save the pretty lies for an idiot. I've seen the pictures. I loved you and this is how you pay me back you ass." Taylor said literally spitting at Chad as she said every angry word.

"I'm not sleeping with her. You don't believe it, fine. If you don't know me well enough to know I wouldn't do that to you, then you don't know me at all. Taylor you never knew me beyond my fake high school persona. You don't know me Taylor, you never did. I could never trust you enough to know me. Don't say you love me Taylor. You did not know me well enough to actually love me. Sharpay knows me. She knows who I am. She sees me, flaws and all. You never could. I'm so tired of trying to be something else. I cannot do it anymore. I am sorry. It is over." She wanted to cry when he said those words, but she wouldn't let him see her tears.

"Amanda can drive you home. Let her go Sharpay." He said as he physically removed Sharpay away from Taylor

"Fine. If you touch Jason again, I will hurt you." Sharpay said as Chad wrapped his arms around her. This visual took the last bit of fight out of Taylor.

Before seen them together in the flesh it was easier to pretend it was just sex. She was not sure if sex was involved. Chad didn't do casual. Even though everything she knew about him turned out to be a lie, she knew that was still true. Whatever was going on with Sharpay was not casual. They knew each other too well. Chad looked at Sharpay as if she were the only thing in the world. He never looked at Taylor like that. She saw that same look in her father's eyes every time he was with her mother. Taylor knew it was the look of true love.

She couldn't take it. She couldn't believe it. How did it happen? 10 weeks and he was already in love with someone else. 10 weeks and he was a completely different person. Her mind couldn't process this. When she couldn't process things, she ran. She could not face the truth that he did not love her.

* * *

"Can someone please explain to me what happened?" Sharpay heard the RA say just minutes after Taylor ran from the room on the verge of tears.

"I told you to tell her on the telephone." Amanda said as she started to put the furniture back in the community room. "Chad just broke up with his girlfriend. She didn't take it very well."

"I'm going to be filling out incident reports all night." The RA said in annoyance as she surveyed the damage.

"On the bright side Taylor owes me $35.00 for the swear jar for her fourteen uses of the F word nine uses of the B word, five uses of the D word, six of the P word, and three of the A word. Are you going to take me home Sharpay?" Jason asked pulling Sharpay out of her confused state. She couldn't believe that this went so badly. There was at least $10,000 worth of damage to the building alone. There went her black card shopping spree this Thanksgiving. Her dad was going to kill her.

"Just give me a minute to change." Sharpay said walking into the bedroom with Chad behind her. It was an absolute disaster area. Glass and stuffed animal fluff cover the room. Her comforter was torn to shreds. Her television was destroyed and the only reason why she still had a laptop was because it was designed for punishment. Hundreds of CDs and DVDs were smashed to pieces and scattered around the room. Almost every outfit she owned was ruined. No was able to stop Taylor as she doused all her clothing with bleach. She wanted to cry, however, Sharpay Evans did not cry. Well she did not cry in public anyway.

A little voice in her head told her this was what she deserved. Even though she was not trying to cheat, it happened. Even though they never slept together, they might as well have. She stole Taylor's boyfriend. Sharpay never hated herself more than right now. For the first time in her life, Sharpay actually felt like the evil villain that everyone said she was in high school.

"It's not true." It was like he could read her mind. "Whatever she said to you before I got here it's not true. You are the most intelligent, beautiful, infuriating, passionate, and compassionate woman I have ever met. You know everything about me. Even things I don't want to tell you. You did not take my heart from her because she never had it. My heart belongs to you." Chad said kissing her on the lips for the first time that was genuinely real and not the two of them pretending or an 'accident'. She wanted this so much. That wicked voice in her head wondered if all this pain was worth this. As he continued to kiss her, she knew he was worth everything.

"This is such a mess," she said as they broke apart. She was not quite sure if she was referring to the room or the situation.

"I should've broken up with her on the phone."

"You think." Sharpay said sarcastically as she pulled a piece of fluff out of his hair. "I doubt that I will find anything wearable in here. She basically destroyed my entire fall wardrobe."

"Good thing you have all the other seasons at the mansion" Chad said in jest.

"I'll take Jason home like this. I'll call the cleaning crew and daddy from the car. I want him to hear about this from me and not Lisa.

"I'll meet you in a minute. I just want to see what she did to my room."

"That is okay. Just meet me at the mansion at seven. One of us probably needs to talk to campus police. Just bring junk food. If I see a salad, I will hurt you." She said smiling at him. It was her fake 'I'm trying to be okay when I just want to cry' smile. She wanted to kiss him again but decided against it. Instead she left him and this mess behind.

* * *

Taylor had no idea how she made it to her favorite cafe 10 blocks from the A of U campus. She was just glad she had the presence of mind to bring her bag and cell phone. She was currently cycling through the angry break up songs on her mp three player, eating a jumbo nacho with sour cream and guacamole by herself as she tried to figure out what to do next. How did this happen? How did he fall out of love with her? Did he ever love her? Sitting here eating junk food and listening to TLC's _Lovesick_ would not provide her with the answer to her question.

If this happened last year, she would be calling Gabriella, not anymore. Taylor missed high school Gabriella. College Gabriella was too busy making straight A and making her way through the Stanford party scene. There was no way she would call college Gabriella. She thought about calling her mother and asking her to pick her up. They could pick up Ben and Jerry's and cry over sappy love stories. However, her mom was too busy planning her anniversary party. Besides, she couldn't provide Taylor with the answers to any of her questions. Then she remembered the one person other than the person in question, who may know why Sharpay Evans is now the love of Chad's life. She quickly dialed the number. Fortunately, he picked up.

"Hello,"

"Troy, why does your best friend not love me anymore?" She asked Troy as she tried to keep the tears out of her voice.

**To be continued**


	13. Something True

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. That was definitely a hard chapter to write. However, I loved every second of it. Now it is time for the fallout.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my crazy original characters. All films mentioned are used without permission.

Chapter 13: Something True

October 7, 2008 9:15 AM

"For the last seven weeks we have examined how film can show us the true nature of humankind and society in general. We have explored the various concepts of this class by watching excerpts from films, read essays and watching documentaries on the subject." Said professor A as he addressed Sharpay's film class.

"Nothing like being in a class where your homework consists of watching excerpts from Four Little Girls, Jackie Brown, and _Letters from Iwo Jima_. I wish I could have taken this class in high school." Chad commented quietly to Kim and Sharpay.

"Now it is your turn to be behind the camera. I want to see how you interpret the world through a lens. For your midterm project, you will create your own short film. I want everybody to break off into groups of three."

"It like it is just the three of us as usual," Sharpay said to the other two

"Like you would have it any other way," Chad said smirking at her as he secretly grabbed her hand under the table.

"Now I could let you choose your subject, but what's the fun than that." The professor said as he picked up a hat from his desk. In this hat is a vast variety of films, everything from _Star Wars_ to _Hotel Rwanda_. Your project must somehow relate to whatever your representative picks out. Please send one person from your group to pick." The professor said to the class.

"I will go pick out our film. You two continue starring at the other in your 'I want to be with you but can't because of Taylor' way. I cannot wait to this week is over and you two can finally be together. " Kim said to the other two.

"We don't stare at each other." Sharpay said in her defense, even though she knew it was somewhat true.

"Said the woman clutching Chad's hand for dear life under the table. Now that we all know you two are in love, please stop the denial routine."

"I swear I'm going to smack you Kim." Sharpay said under her breath.

"I'm your only friend, you would never hurt me."

"I have Chad now. I don't need you anymore." Sharpay said with an evil smile.

"He's not your friend. He's the guy you make out with."

"No matter what I will always be your friend." Chad said in a whisper to Sharpay so Kim can't hear him. "Kim just go, before she gets more agitated. At the rate you're going, I'm not going to be able to calm her down."

"At least not without resorting to a quickie in the bathroom," Kim said leaving the two behind. Sharpay was so shocked by Kim's evil comment she forgot to pay attention to the rest of the instructions for the assignment. The only thing she remembered was it was due on the 21st and it could not be more than 15 minutes.

"Are all college midterms like this?" Sharpay asked Chad once cognitive function returned.

"No, these are the fun projects. Other than English class, this will be the only exam that will not involve a blue book this entire year. Last year all my exams were multiple choice."Chad answered Sharpay as Kim return to the table. Suddenly they both noticed the very wicked smile on Kim face.

"Why do I have a feeling that we just got a really bad midterm project?" Sharpay said to her almost boyfriend.

"I doubt that she would be that happy if we got something as serious as Hotel Rwanda."

"This is Kim were talking about. Her sense of humor is skewed."

"You know it's not nice to talk about me when I'm standing in front of you. I'm grinning because I already have the perfect idea for this project. It was made for you two. In addition, we have a lot of footage already on my laptop if you will let me use the footage from the party and my project for my education class." Kim said handing to slip of paper over to the other two.

"I can't even believe this is an option. This is a must be the most fluffy film in the hat." Sharpay said in annoyance.

"It can't be that hard. Besides you did recreate the scene in the deli in a dressing room a few weeks ago."

"You're so sleeping in your own room tonight." She knew it was an empty threat even as she said it to him. She already hated being without him.

* * *

October 10, 2008 4:53 PM

Jack Bolton has had a lot of different opinion about Kimberly Kim over the years. When she was, 14 he saw her as the inquisitive drama girl who asked too many questions in health class. (Although now he wished, she asked more questions during the human reproduction chapter.) When she was 15, he saw her as the girl in gym class that never wanted to lose or break a nail. When she was 17 he saw her as the solution to his son's bad grades in math and English. After Chad got so frustrated trying to tutor Troy that he threw a book at him, Kim became his only hope of keeping Troy eligible for basketball. When she was 18, he saw her as the woman that broke his son's heart when she left so suddenly. She only a left a note that he never could give to his son. At almost 21, she became the mother of his grandchild. At least now he understood why she left 2 ½ years ago. He also had a good feeling that the note left that night was at the very least a cover for a much more complicated situation.

He really did not understand how to deal with the woman in front of him. She seems so different from her high school self. When he asked her the initial question in the gym, she froze. He expected her to run from the room. Instead, she asked to go somewhere away from campus. Now he was sitting drinking coffee with his son's ex girlfriend and his grandchild. A grandchild he was not even aware of the possibility of his existence until a few weeks ago. Alex looks so much like Troy it was spooky. He was almost a mini Troy. He even had Troy's food allergies.

"So are you going to answer my question now?" Jack asked as he took another sip of his coffee.

"Not really, can we start with something simpler? Like why does prejudice exist?" He laughed at her joke. If she wasn't ready to answer the big question, he would give her more time.

"How about an easier question, why are you an education major right now? When you were in school you wanted to be an actress like your friend Sharpay."

"Because you can't be a dreamer when you have a kid. I did not have a toddler in high school. In addition, I spent two years without my trust fund. After being so broke qualify for food stamps, I learn the importance of having a career that comes with a steady paycheck. I like teaching. It feels good to help others learn. In the future it will be nice to have the same hours as Alex when he starts school." Kim said as she tried to get Alex to stop throwing his food at the other kids in the restaurant. Another thing that Troy always did when he was little.

"What do you mean you spent two years without your trust fund?" Jack said focusing on her earlier statement.

"My mom had full control over the money my grandfather left me. When she found out I was pregnant she wanted me to have an abortion. I said no. She threatened not to pay for my education, I still said no. It did not matter because I was on scholarship anyway. I was not going to give up my child because I didn't get pregnant by the right person." He noticed that she did not say 'right time'. "She gave up on forcing me to have an abortion and decided to get me to give Alex up for adoption by taking my trust fund hostage. I spent most of freshman and sophomore year of college being a fulltime working mom and college student. I am not sure how I managed to get by. Finally my father and stepmother manage to get my trust fund restored in June." It made him feel better to know how hard Kim fought to keep his grandson.

"Why did you not tell us this was going on? We would have helped you." No matter how he felt about Kim, he wouldn't let his grandchild suffer.

"Like I was going to tell you and your wife after what you two did to us?" he could hear the anger in her voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's see how about your wife blackmailing me to leave your son?" her statement was completely new to him. He knew nothing about this.

"What?"

"Do not act like you didn't know. First of all, your wife threatened to send me to prison for statutory, if I didn't break up with Troy." He found that thread laughable.

"Kim the entire faculty at East High knew you and Troy were sleeping together by April when Ms. Darbus caught the two of you having sex in the garden on the roof. If we thought you were a threat, you've probably would've been in jail anyway. The principle definitely would not be letting you come back as a student teacher this year. " He noticed her face go remarkably pale as he told her this.

"You knew?"

"I knew you two were together. I was not completely happy, but I knew Troy was. I wasn't going to keep you apart."

"No, that was your wife. Her second threat was taking Troy out of East High for home schooling so he couldn't play basketball or be with his friends. That's the one that had me packing for New York the next day." He had a feeling she was keeping something else from him. However, he had no idea what.

"I wish you were told me. I would a divorced her and sued for full custody, before I would let her get away with something that stupid."

"I know that now. I just thought it would be better if I left. It was not until three weeks later that I found out I was pregnant when I collapsed in class." He wanted to ask her why she didn't call. However, he knew she was not ready for that question.

"Did you write him that nasty letters so he would forget about you?" he instantly noticed the puzzled look on her face.

"What letter?"

"The one where you tell Troy that you were just using him and didn't love him." He said passing her the crumbled piece of paper from his bag that he had saved for over two years.

* * *

Troy Bolton was seriously tired of Chad's girlfriends calling him with their relationship problems. Sharpay he could understand. Without knowing, he contributed to the problem. Thinking about it now maybe, he should have talk to her about why he did not want to date her instead of dating Gabriella.

However, he was not responsible for the current situation. Except, he was in a way. He agreed to help Kim get Chad and Sharpay to realize their feelings for each other. His punishment was to explain why Chad fell in love with Sharpay to a very angry Taylor. This would be difficult because Troy was not even 100% sure, why Chad fell in love with Sharpay. It just happened. He was not entirely sure Chad ever loved Taylor. Troy just knew that he didn't love her now. Neither fact was something he wanted to tell Taylor.

"You don't ask easy questions, do you Taylor. Isn't this a conversation you should be having with Gabriella. I know were friends, but this is more of a best friend conversation." He said in hopes of trying to get out of this horrible conversation.

"Unfortunately as you know my best friend is too busy probably getting drunk at a frat party to help me through this crisis.

"It's not even 6:00 PM yet. She's probably doing jello shots in a dorm room somewhere." Troy answered sarcastically. He was getting really tired of Gabriella blowing everything off for the college experience.

"She has been ignoring you as well. You give up your dream of going to A of U just to be near her and this is how she treats you. Maybe if you were here, this whole mess would not have happened. You could have kept Chad from falling in love with the ice queen." Troy wasn't about to tell Taylor that he actually encouraged Chad to be with Sharpay.

"First of all I would just like to say that I didn't give up my dream for Gabriella or anyone else. A of U was not my dream, it was my father's. I'm getting really tired of trying to be someone I'm not just to make everyone else happy. I've lost too much." He thought of Kim at that moment.

"As for the relationship between Chad and Sharpay that started before you and him were ever dating. Those two have had a strange connection since kindergarten when they got in a fight over chocolate milk. Maybe the connection that seemed like hate was really their passion for each other. Maybe what we thought was hate was really lust or even love. You remember the summer at Lava Springs no one could make those two madder than each other. Yet they kept making excuses to be around each other.

"I just don't understand how they can go from hating each other to what I saw this weekend. It was like they were together their entire life."

"They have been. Chad and Sharpay have had classes with each other since kindergarten except for the year Sharpay's family lived in Rhode Island." Troy remembered how miserable Chad was that year. It was as if part of him was missing because he didn't have Sharpay to argue with. "As for hating each other, I don't think they ever did. They just had too much fun fighting."

"Now they are having too much fun making out."

"You walked in on them?" He asked wondering how she found out about the relationship.

"I saw the video. I would like some context to go with what I saw today."

"You really want to know the entire story?

"I would like to know why I took a baseball bat to Sharpay's television an hour and ½ ago. As well as why Chad should've been on the academic decathlon team last year."

"You took a baseball bat to their television?" Now he really hoped she never found out about his involvement in this fiasco.

"I wasn't thinking clearly at the time." Apparently not, Troy thought to himself.

"I guess it all started with Ryan and a little white lie. There was also Penelope from West High who was apparently screwing Zeke for most of last year. She was trying to make Chad her latest conquest. Chad had this brilliant idea to keep Penelope away by having Sharpay pretend to be his girlfriend. Most importantly, there were two people who kept saying over and over again that they were just friends. When we all knew they were not." Troy began to tell her the twisted story of how Chad and Sharpay got together as he set a text message to the only person who could get him out of this uncomfortable conversation.

* * *

Sharpay sat in the driveway of the McKessie home for a few minutes after dropping Jason off in hopes of calm herself down. She was expecting her father to caller her at any moment to yell at her. By the time she got through her father assisted Daniel, informed her that her father was in a conference call with Lisa and Gordon from judiciaries. She was so screwed. This why you should not go to the university where your dad is a member of the Board of Directors.

As Sharpay a finely pulled herself together enough to get out of the driveway she heard a knock at the window. It was Mrs. McKessie. She was probably there to tell Sharpay to stay away from Jason because she had hurt Taylor so badly.

"Are you okay?" Mrs. McKessie asked her. She was not expecting that. The mother of the person she hurt so badly should not be expressing sympathy of any kind.

"Not really," Sharpay said with a sigh." I am guessing Jason told you what happened."

"That my daughter pretty much went ballistic when Chad broke up with her. Jason sent me a text message and footage of the incident. I do not care that she is 18, when she gets home she's going to wish I could still ground her.

"That's okay, it was all my fault. I did take her boyfriend."

"No it wasn't. I have known for a long time that Chad Danforth was never going to become my son in law. Maybe it had signed to do with the fact that I knew more about him than my daughter ever did. This breakup was going to come eventually. I'm just glad he found you. Sharpay you can't blame yourself for my daughter stupid actions. How about we take a ride and I tell you the story of how I really met my husband." Mrs. McKessie said as she sat in the front seat of Sharpay's Lexus.

"Jason said you two met in high school and instantly fell in love. You two were married during the beginning of sophomore year of college." Sharpay said as she pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road.

"That's the happy version that we tell the kids. The truth is we hated each other in high school. So much so, we couldn't stand to be in the same room together. In college, we became friends because we were away from everyone else we knew. Unfortunately we fell in love when he still had a girlfriend who was ironically enough a freshman at Yale University."

"Did she smash a baseball bat into your television when she found out that you two fell in love?

"Surprisingly no, considering she found out by walking in on the two of us having sex." Sharpay accidentally ran a stop sign when she heard Mrs. McKessie say this. Fortunately, there were no other cars around.

* * *

"I didn't send this. I was in love with him. I would not say that, even if it was just to make him forget about me. "Kim said in complete shock. Thank God Jack made sure he never saw this.

"I believe you." He said to her quietly.

"You asked me earlier why I didn't tell you or Troy about Alex. Part of it was, I was afraid that I would be rejected. Most of my family still sees me as the black sheep that dishonor the entire family. I couldn't deal with any more people despising me or Alex."

"That would not have happened."

"They say hindsight is 20/20. I have been preparing myself for the last couple of weeks to tell Troy during Thanksgiving break. Although it looks like the timetable to tell him has been moved up a little bit."

"I won't tell him. This is something you need to do. Just tell me this, was there any other reason why you kept this to yourself."

"He was 16 when Alex was born. I didn't want to take the last few years of his childhood away. I mean come on; if he knew about Alex, he wouldn't have played in the championship game junior year or found his inner thespian. He was not ready to be a dad yet."

"Are you sure that's not just your fear talking?" Jack asked her. Fortunately, before she could answer the boy in question sent her a text message

"I have to check this." She said as she grabbed her phone from her purse. "It's Troy. Apparently, Taylor decided to call him to find out why Chad dumped her for Sharpay. He wants me to pick up Taylor from a restaurant a few blocks away so he can stop explaining how Chad and Sharpay got together."

"You still talk to each other?"

"We started talking to each other again a couple months ago with the goal of getting Chad and Sharpay together. Apparently were being punished today." She did not tell him that they emailed each other almost three times a day and call the other almost as much.

"What are you telling him?"

"That there is no way I am letting our child anywhere that crazy woman." Kim said as she pressed the send button and then handed jack the phone with a picture of Taylor smashing a lamp with a baseball bat.

"I can see your point." He said passing the phone back to her as another message from Troy popped up begging her to get Taylor.

After five more minutes of text messages between the two, Jack apparently became tired of watching the two go back and forth. On the other hand, maybe it was the fact his son was now resorting to dirty text messages to get Kim to help. This led Jack to ask "I could watch Alex. It would give us some time for grandson and grandfather bonding." Kim agreed quickly deciding it was better than Jack finding out some of the things Troy use to do to her that made her scream. She was so telling Troy about this incident later.

"I'll go get his bag out of my car."

10 minutes later Kim found herself at the café to retrieve Taylor. If it wasn't for the fact Kim felt guilty for pushing Chad and Sharpay together, there was no way she would let Troy talk her into taking care of Taylor for the weekend. She may love the boy, but she was not crazy. When she overheard Taylor arguing with Troy on the phone, she has considered walking back to Jack to take her kid and leave. She definitely did not want to do this.

"You expect me to believe that they were making out with each other and were convinced that it was okay because they were just acting?" Kim could hear the sarcasm in Taylor's voice.

"We didn't say that we thought it was okay. We said they thought it was okay. It took them almost five weeks to come out of their relationship denial." Kim said as she approached the girl.

"Who are you?"

Kim could barely hear Troy tell Taylor to put the phone on speaker.

"I'm Kim, Sharpay's friend." Kim said extending her hand, but Taylor did not accept.

"I really never want to see a friend of Sharpay ever again."

"You can trust her Taylor, she's my ex girlfriend." Kim was surprised that Troy refer to her as his ex girlfriend to anyone.

"You dated someone seriously besides Gabriella in high school. How oblivious was I?" If Kim were a nicer person, she would tell Taylor that no one knew they were dating in high school. However, she just was not in the mood.

"Come on I'm here to take you to a safe place so you can screen at Chad and Sharpay in the privacy of my guest room. We can pick up ice cream on the way." Apparently, the promise of ice cream managed to get Taylor to leave with her. On the way to the car she sent text messages to the two guys she was the angriest at.

"This is way too nice for a college student. " Taylor said in a somewhat condescending way as they pulled up at Kim's house 30 minutes later.

"Having a multimillion dollar trust fund does have its perks. Since I have a kid free evening, I am going to go work on my education and film class projects. Make yourself at home. My roommate is out of town to meet with her boyfriend this weekend." Kim said leaving Taylor in the living room.

"That was your kid this morning? When exactly did you and Troy date?" Kim heard Taylor ask, as she was halfway down the hall.

"I think there's some potato chips in the cover help you. I'm just going to go work on that project now." Kim ran to her study before Taylor could ask any more questions.

* * *

After 30 minutes of being yelled at by Lisa, several other members of residence life, and campus police, Chad was finally able to get out of the building. He was just glad he did not have to be there for the conversation with Mr. Evans. He was definitely not looking forward to any conversation with his girlfriend's father. Especially one this complicated. How will he explain that he and Sharpay were not dating this summer even though he thought they were? However, they were dating now and he was completely in love with her. Unfortunately, his ex girlfriend decided to freak out and destroy half a floor in Evans hall.

His night of being yelled at was far from over when he receives several angry text messages from Troy and Kim. Apparently, the two were stuck watching Taylor. He felt better knowing that she was safe. Of course, his punishment was to take care of Alex for the night. He was completely shocked when Kim told him to pick up Alex from Grandpa Jack's house. He was definitely getting the story of how Coach Bolton found out about Alex later from Kim.

He pulled up to the house around 6:40 pm. He waited as late as he could to give the pair as much time as possible before he had to be at Sharpay's. He noticed Mr. Bolton playing with Alex in the back on the basketball court. Alex was currently running around clutching onto a basketball. Within seconds Coach knew he was standing there.

"Did Kim send you to get him?"

"She felt it would be better if he stayed with someone he was more used to. She may me promise to give you guys as much time as possible the hang out. She's not going to keep you away from him. You just need to call her the work out the arrangements. Besides this is my punishment for not breaking up with Taylor correctly. I get to spend the first night with my new girlfriend taking care of a toddler. Although, I'll take this instead of Kim screaming at me via text messages."

"You kind of deserve it. I can't believe someone who is as assertive as you on the basketball court was too afraid to tell Taylor that he met someone else."

"Sometimes I think the basketball court is the only place I can be assertive. At least your not yelling at me like everyone else is."

"I would, but I need to make a good impression with my grandchild. We cannot have him thinking I am some sort of ogre.

"No you should save that for when he makes the basketball team in 12 years." Chad said with a smile as he grabbed Alex's things and started taking them to the car."

* * *

After spending, an hour exploring Kim's film collection and pantry Taylor decided to get more answers to her questions from Kim. Instead, she found Kim watching a clip of her boyfriend answering those questions she needed the answer to.

"I did not love Taylor. I did not realize this until a few weeks ago. However, I think a new all along on some subconscious level. Up until recently, I don't think I knew what love was. I guess that is what happens when you have parents who got married because the condom broke. They didn't know each other, let alone love each other. It was just this random encounter after game that cost my mom her dream of being on the Supreme Court someday. She did not get to go back to law school until I started school."

"Yet despite that, you love Sharpay?" The Kim on the screen asked Chad.

"Of course I love her. I can share everything with her. She's the first person other than Troy's that actually sees me completely. I can tell her anything. I trust her more than anything else in my life. When I am a around her, I feel complete. Which is strange because we've only been together like this for less than two months. Being around her taught me that maybe love does exist. " She started to cry when she heard that. Kim must have heard her because the video clip stopped.

"What is this for? Taylor asked wiping her tears away.

"This particular clip is for our film class project where were we are recreating the interview scene from _Harry met Sally_ to explore relationships in 2008. We drew the film randomly. Apparently it's our professors, Life Partner's favorite film. However I believe Chad and Sharpay's relationship is perfect for this assignment."

"Do you have any more footage like this?"

"I have hours worth of stuff. Do you want to see it?"

* * *

"Why are you bringing an almost unconscious toddler into my house?" Sharpay asked Chad as she helped him bring a sleepy Alex and the food into the house. She quickly took the food out of his hands and put it on the coffee table in one of the living rooms.

"I think this is Kim's idea of birth control. We get to keep him for the night because she is babysitting my psycho ex. Where can I put him?"

"You can put him on the couch for now. Besides, there is no way you are getting any after your girlfriend destroyed my room. I just spent a good portion of this afternoon of trying to explain to my dad why we shouldn't go to Judiciaries because we could not control our guest." Sharpay said sitting down on the other couch.

She didn't mention the surreal conversation with Mrs. McKessie earlier in the evening. Despite the gross out factor, she did feel better after talking to someone who went through her situation. She also didn't mention the 30 minute conversation between Mrs. McKessie and her father to decide Taylor's punishment. She would tell him later.

"We can go to judiciaries for that?" Chad asked sitting next to her.

"She was our guest and we left her unsupervised. Because we left her unsupervised she…"

"Taylor recreated the scene from waiting to exhale without burning anything." Sharpay did not find his joke funny.

"Good thing for us, you text message Amanda to come watch Taylor. We were able to prove that we did not leave Taylor unsupervised and she went psychotic anyway."

"At least I did something right today. This is all my fault. I really did like that television."

"This wasn't your fault, it was mine. I took you from her. I sort of deserve to have my entire spring collection ruined."

"No you don't. Didn't we have this conversation earlier today? You didn't take me from her. I was never hers. I think I've been yours ever since kindergarten when you took my chocolate milk." Chad said this as he put his arm around her.

"Then you started crying and I gave my cookies to Ryan to give to you. But I wouldn't let him tell you that they were from me. I never like seeing you sad. " Sharpay said as she leaned into him.

"Even in kindergarten you were obsessed with image." He said with a small laugh.

"So were you. Maybe if we broke free of everybody earlier maybe this would have happened sooner." She said as she kissed him gently on the lips.

"I think you're right. I never told anybody this, but the only reason why I started dating Taylor was because Troy was dating Gabriella."

"What Troy was dating a brain, so you had to date one too? You two have a very strange friendship."

"It was more like Troy and Gabriella were always together and they would bring their friends along. After months of being stuck together, we just kind of stayed that way. It was as if we were expected to date. There is also the fact she was a really good kisser." At that Sharpay threw a pillow at him." Baby you are 8000 times better than her."

"I better be." Sharpay said quickly kissing him again.

"The reason things are so much better with you is, it is not just physical. There is this deep emotional connection between us. Everything is so much more intense. I never love Taylor." Sharpay's mouth opened wide at his comment displaying her shock.

"I don't know why you are surprised. I told you earlier today, she was never in my heart."

"I just didn't put it together. You never loved her?" She saw him shake his head. "You two looked so good together in high school. I just assumed it was true love like Gabriella and Troy."

"I don't even think Gabriella and Troy are true love."

"Besides he's in love with someone else."

"He told you?" Chad asked in surprise.

"He didn't give a name, but I know he was in love with someone else. That is why he went for the easy relationship with Gabriella instead of a messy relationship with me. Troy was just another person who was afraid to let me in." She was starting to pull away from him afraid to let him see her so vulnerable. But Chad wouldn't let her. He quickly wiped her tears away with his hand.

"I'm not afraid to let you in." He said pulling her so close that she was practically sitting on his lap. "I love you completely. Even your diva attitude and ice queen tendencies. I want to be with you in every way. You are the only person I've ever wanted to give myself to completely. You're the only one who ever deserved it." He said as he gently kissed her from her forehead to her shoulders and neck.

"What you mean I'm the only person you ever wanted to give yourself to completely?" It was hard to ask him this question when he found that spot on her neck that made her stop breathing. He pulled back from her and looked her straight in the eyes.

"I never slept with Taylor." She definitely didn't see that coming.

"I just assume that you did. The way you two were together, it just screamed sexual relationship. Besides from my unfortunate experience sex apparently is the only thing guys want out of a relationship."

"Don't judge me by those assholes that broke your heart or violated you. I'm not Zeke and definitely not Richard." She knew that more than anything.

"I know you're different. I don't think I could be with you otherwise." She said as she began to kiss him slowly. "Now that I got that out of my system you can continue your story."

"At prom Taylor wanted to take our relationship to the next level and I couldn't do it. She wasn't exactly very happy."

"This wouldn't have anything to do with you spending 30 minutes in makeup for the spring musical?"

"You notice that?"

"I've never been so self absorb that I would not notice things like that." He laughed when she said that. He was probably thinking about last spring when she was messing with Troy's mind by pretending that she didn't know when the big game was.

"So why couldn't you sleep with her, when you want to sleep with me.

"Correction, I want to make love to you. With you, it is not sex, sleeping together, or getting laid. Whatever we do together is an expression of my love for you. That is why I couldn't sleep with her. You know about the circumstances of my conception. My parents never loved each other. It was a stupid drunken hook up. I was a stupid mistake that ruin my mom's life." She noticed he was starting to cry. She hated when he was sad.

"Chad nothing as good as you can be a mistake. Maybe you were unplanned. However you are not a mistake." She quickly wiped away his tears with her hand.

"Sometimes I envy Alex. Even though according to Kim he was a very unplanned pregnancy, she did love his father very much and he loved her. Contraceptive are never 100% effective. Living proof of that is sleeping on the couch right there. I told myself years ago, when I saw my parents fighting all the time before the divorce, that I would never sleep with someone I couldn't picture myself raising a child with. I'd didn't want any child of mine going through what I did. My child would know that his parents loved each other no matter what. On prom night last year, as hard as I've tried I couldn't picture myself raising a child with Taylor. Even though I still had not admitted to myself that I didn't love her, on some subconscious level I knew we didn't have a future together. That's why I couldn't sleep with her."

"What about us? Do you see us several years from now with 1.7 children and a dog living a white picket fence dream?"

"All the time. I mean you already put me on your car insurance. That's pretty domestic right there."

"Putting the car in your name was the only way I could have two cars on campus at the same time."

"Yet I'm on the insurance for both cars. I think it's cute." He said as he kissed her again.

"This afternoon when I saw you cutting up Alex's food at the restaurant, I could not help but imagine you are doing that for our own curly haired boy. You are going to make a great mother someday and I want it to be to my child. Someday in the very distant future."

"I can see it to. Hopefully not for like 10 years after I'm established in the acting or business community. However, if it happened earlier with you I wouldn't be terrified."

"You see us together in 10 years?"

"Sometimes . Even though I can't say those word yet, I care more about you than anyone else before. I am just to screwed up right now after everything that happened in the past. However, I can see us growing old together."

"Just because I say I love you doesn't mean I expect you to say it back. I know you have not exactly had healthy a relationships before. I don't expect anything from you that you are not willing to give."

"Even if I'm not ready for a sexual relationship with you. After what happened with Richard I'm not sure if I'm ready." She still had nightmares about Richard. She wasn't ready emotionally for a physically intimate relationship. She was still working on the emotional intimacy part. The fact that she pushed everybody away for two years told her that. Chad was the first person after Richard that she let know her. She never let Zeke in completely.

"I can wait. I not even 100% sure I'm ready yet for a sexual relationship. We're in this relationship together. We make all decisions together." She knew that wasn't just the line. She trusted him.

"Sometimes I wish you were my first." Sharpay said in a whisper as she curled herself in to his arms.

"I the only one that counts" He said kissing her on the forehead. "No more crying. We should probably eat before the food is frozen." Sharpay let go and grabbed one of the trays from the coffee table.

"Too late the food is cold. I think our heart to heart lasted too long. Go ahead and put Alex in Ryan's old room. There's a door between the rooms for easy access. Leave it open so we can hear. I'll bring everything upstairs in a few minutes. Just because I'm not ready for certain things doesn't mean I don't want to have some fun with my new boyfriend tonight." Sharpay said as she went in for the most intense kiss of the night. When they broke apart they were both panting for breath.

"Maybe we better save the rest of this for upstairs." As she went to microwave the food, she remembered the chocolate covered fruit and champagne in the refrigerator. Instantly she got a very wicked idea.

* * *

20 minutes later after finally getting Alex back to sleep he walked in Sharpay's room expecting to see dinner, bags of potato chips, movies, and Sharpay wearing her crazy pink bunny slippers that she keeps at the house so no one would make fun of her in the dorms. Instead, he found candles, champagne, chocolate covered fruit, and a Sharpay decked out in black lace. He had a feeling this was her new piece from Alexandria's custom lingerie. He was looking forward to seeing the entire collection, especially when they get to the point in their relationship where it would be on the floor most of the time.

"I thought you said you were not ready."

"I'm not. It's just after everything you said downstairs, I wanted to give you this completely romantic evening even if it didn't exactly ended up with us doing that." Sharpay said blushing at the last part. He never thought he would see Sharpay Evans be embarrassed of anything. He loved it.

"I think it's a great ideal. Besides how far are we going to get with an almost two year old sleeping next door? Kim probably programmed him to start screaming at moment I try to take off your panties." He said as he went in for another earth-shattering kiss. As they continued, he gently placed her on the bed. After breaking apart for air after a very intense few minutes of kissing he finally spoke again.

"I just thought of something."

"What's that?"

"You never asked me to be your boyfriend?"

"I thought it was supposed to be the other way around."

"Not with us." He said kissing her again.

"Find," she said when they broke apart. "Chad Danforth will you be my boyfriend?"

"I have to think about it," when he said that she threw one of the strawberries at him.

"You know the answer is yes." He said as he grabbed one of the chocolate pieces of fruit to feed to her. 0000

It shocked Taylor to realize that within an hour of watching the various video clips involving her now former boyfriend, she learns more about him than during their entire relationship. She never really had the opportunity to see him beyond his stereotypical stupid basketball player image. She didn't know what hurt more the fact that he fell in love with Sharpay so easily or he was so afraid to share his true self with her. He was right. She did not love him, because she didn't know him enough to love him. She was in love with the person she thought he was. That person wasn't real. Chad Danforth number two basketball moron was just a way for him to survive high school.

The truly bitter pill of the night was Sharpay's interview. It was so much easier to take everything if she could blame Sharpay. If Taylor could still picture her as the evil temptress and ice queen bitch she was in high school, then Taylor wouldn't have to take responsibility for her own actions. Except Sharpay wasn't the person Taylor thought she was either. Not then and not now. Finding out that Sharpay hated herself for taking Chad just as Penelope took Zeke from Sharpay, was difficult for her. Finding out Sharpay had any remorse whatsoever was a new concept for Taylor.

The hardest discovery of the night was finding out how inaccurate locker room rumors were. Taylor felt like an absolute bitch when she found out about Richard incident. All those rumors about Sharpay being the easiest girl in school were completely untrue. The fact that Taylor said all those nasty things to her this afternoon made her feel even worse. No wonder Sharpay slapped her.

She needed to apologize. She just wasn't ready to face the happy couple yet. She would think of something in the morning.

* * *

October 11, 2008 8:11 AM

After dropping, Taylor off at her parents' house this morning, Kim was ready to get her son back from uncle Chad and auntie Sharpay. At least Taylor was a lot calmer on the ride to her parents' house this morning.

After knocking on the door for a good 5 minutes without getting an answer, she used the key Sharpay gave her a few weeks ago to get into the house. She slowly made her way upstairs to Sharpay's room. She slowly opened the door and was thankful to see that the two were still wearing clothing. Well they were wearing clothing if you consider black lace lingerie and silk boxer shorts to be clothing. Kim noticed Chad start to wake up.

"Go back to sleep. I just came to pick up Alex."

"I've been up for the last hour. Let me help you get everything downstairs" Chad said untangling himself from Sharpay and grabbing his close from the closet. 10 minutes later Chad was helping Kim get Alex into his car seat.

"How is Taylor this morning?"

"Slightly less likely to kill you. I think it helped showed her the interviews for our film project. I think she understands more what happened now. I don't think she will be able to forgive you for a long time.

"I should have just listen to everybody when they told me to do this over the phone. The situation just got out of hand."

"No one knew she was going to blow up like that. However, I think you're right it's better to get things out now. That's why the Thanksgiving confession has been moved a little bit. Besides, in the last 24 hours two more people have figured out Alex's paternity.

"Who else other than Coach Grandpa?"

"On the way here Taylor asked me if Troy knew that he was Alex's father."

"If she tells Gabriella about her boyfriend having a kid was someone else…"

"It will make the blow up in your dorm room look like a tantrum over a candy bar. So far, she promised not to tell Gabriella but you never know. I need to tell him now."

"Do you want me to be there when you tell him?"

"This is something I have to do on my own. I've been putting this call off for more than two years. I think it's time I act like a grownup." Kim said as she got into the front seat of the car.

"Call me after you tell him."

"He'll probably call you first."

"Probably." It was the last thing Kim heard as she pulled out of the driveway.

* * *

After surviving the torture test known as shopping with Sharpay, they arrived back at the dorms with replacements for almost everything Taylor destroyed the day before. After watching Sharpay coming out of the dressing room in the skimpiest outfits imaginable, he realized she was playing with him. It was probably her revenge for losing most of her closet at school.

Not that shopping with Sharpay did not have some interesting fringe benefits. Like the fact, they redid the dressing room incident when they ran into Richard and his new girlfriend Penelope at Modern Style. He took great pleasure in the fact that all of Sharpay's moans were real this time, even though they were still just pretending they were having sex in the dressing room. It didn't bother him that they were now banned from the store for "inappropriate behavior". The look On Richard and Penelope face was priceless. He was so happy that Sharpay got a shot of it with her camera phone.

"So did you two have fun while the rest of us cleaned up this mess?" Amanda asked as they walked into the now clean room. "The cleanup crew did a real good job. There was no evidence of a psychotic girl having a nervous breakdown."

"Hey I did pay for the cleaning crew and managed to keep us all from going to judiciaries."

"Thank you for that. One infraction of this magnitude and I would have been off the cheerleading squad."

"I also brought you a gift. I got you a visa gift card to replace what Taylor destroyed. I know that Taylor destroyed some of your things and unlikely me you don't have easy access to daddy's credit card." Chad knew that Amanda couldn't afford to replace the stuff that Taylor destroyed. Amanda's family could barely afford to send Amanda to school even with all her scholarships.

"You don't have to. This was mostly my fault. I am the one who gave her access to Sharpay's computer and that's how she found out that you two were together. I warned you about that Thursday and I'm the idiot who lets her see the pictures."

"She probably would have figured it out anyway when Ginger started throwing my bra around. She wouldn't have found anything to be mad about if I didn't make out with her boyfriend while they were still technically together. So take the gift card."

"Do you promise to cut down on the expensive gifts?"

"You know she's not able to do that." Chad said as he sat down on Sharpay's naked bed. They would have to go out again later today to get replacement covers. He noticed a DVD sitting on the bed.

"Taylor dropped it off a couple of hours ago after she apologize for taking a baseball bat to the plasma. I really miss that television." Amanda said with a smile at the couple.

"The new one will arrive Tuesday along with the replacement TV for Chad's room." Sharpay said to Amanda.

"You may want the plasma in Chad's room since Blaze is gone."

"How did that happen?" Sharpay asked Amanda.

"I've been trying to get him out for weeks. " Chad said in a mix of happiness and shock.

"After you left Chad, Lisa and one of the campus security officers witnessed the two idiots engaging in a 'intimate moment' in the study room. After all the damage done to the floor, Lisa was out for blood. Adding this to the fact that Ginger and Blaze's fight trigger Taylor's rampage, Lisa used the incidents to get him kicked out of the building."

"At least something good came out this nightmare." Sharpay said quietly.

"Yes you two can have your sleepovers in his room. Because, I am so not looking forward to walking in the room to see his curly head, between your legs." Amanda said with a laugh as sharpay through one of the remaining pillows at her.

* * *

Troy spent most of Saturday afternoon in the library getting ready for midterms in few days. He thought about how years later he still used Kim's study techniques. If it was not for her he wouldn't even had a GPA high enough to qualify for Berkeley. The irony wasn't lost on him. He thinks about her a lot more now.

At 6:00 pm, he gave up on trying to study. He could not focus on his chemistry with thoughts of yesterday showdown and his possible fatherhood running through his head. He decided to check his e-mail. Maybe, someone sent him footage from yesterday's catastrophe. Even though he had new friends here, he missed his old ones, especially Kim and Chad. When he found a video file from Kim. He instantly opened it up and pressed play.

"I probably should have at the very least done this as a live web chat. But I've never been one for confrontation. It's just easier for me to do this in a video. I probably should have told you this two years ago. I was just too scared. It was just easier for me to keep everything to myself and let you keep your childhood. Maybe I made the wrong choice. I don't know. It's a little too late to do the right thing now. Just know that I love you. I always have and always will even if you hate me right now.

"I had a really long conversation with your dad yesterday about how my leaving affected you. I've really believe I did the right thing. Your mom made me so screwed Up I actually believed you really didn't love me. I know better now. That is why I left for New York and didn't tell you. I left a trail just in case you wanted to find me. But I guess my departure left you unwilling to look."

The truth of the matter was Troy did not even think to look. He wished he had now. However, as Kim said it was a little too late to do the right thing now. She was in New Mexico and he was with Gabriella. Instead, he continued to watch the video.

"A few weeks after I started classes at U of M I found out I was three months pregnant. I was absolutely terrified and completely alone. My mom hated me and was trying to get me to get rid of Alex. Only recently have I started to redevelop my relationship with my dad. I tried to contact you a thousand times to tell you. I just never finished dialing your number. I was so scared to tell you. I was afraid I would find out you never really loved me. That those cruel thing your mother said to me were true. I know better now."

"Kim never specifically said that Alex was his. She didn't have to. He knew three weeks ago when Sharpay e-mail to him a picture of Chad, Kim, and Alex at pizza village. Although in her text message yesterday, she did accidentally refer to Alex as their child. This was Just confirmation of his suspicions.

On the clip he noticed Kim grabbed a toddler and place him in her lap. "Anyway this is your son Alexander Kim. Ironically enough he was born on January 19th 2007, the day of the championship game junior year. Your kid has fabulous timing. After you recover from the initial shock, please call. I think we have a lot to talk about. Just so you know he's always known that you were his dad. I know you hate me for leaving and keeping this from you. Know that I love you and never stopped." That is when the screen went blank. His only thought was he could never hate her. How can you hate the love of your life and the mother of your Child?

* * *

After a second round of shopping this time with Amanda, which meant no more fun in dressing rooms, they finally arrives back at the dorms around 10. Taking Amanda's not very subtle hint, Sharpay decided to spend the night with her boyfriend in his room. Even though Taylor did not do near as bad of a job on Chad's basketball bed set, Sharpay took the opportunity to replace the horrible thing. There's no way she was sleeping on basketball sheets again. Instead she replaced it with a dark blue set that was silky to the touch. Now sitting with him on the bed, in one of his tee shirts, with his arms firmly around she felt completely contented. Unfortunately, she also had Taylor's DVD in her hand.

"You know we need to watch what she said." Chad said kissing her neck softly.

"I just don't want to hear her say I hate you or that I'm some horrible bitch again."

"You are not any of those things," he said putting another kiss on her shoulder.

She finally got the courage to put the desk in and press play.

"I guess I should start with this with I am still mad at you. However, not for the fact that you were cheating on me. Okay I am a little upset about the emotional cheating. The fact that you fell in love with someone else so easily is, painful. I understand why now. I just kind of wish you would told me, Instead me finding out the way I did. Chad you could have sent me one of those video files I watched that Kim's last night. That would have been better. Although after speaking to my parents and finding out the real way they got together, I should be happy I didn't catch you sleeping together. I should be thankful for small favors.

"I'm upset about the fact you were right. Both of you. Sharpay you were right when you said I didn't know Chad. I definitely did not know him the way you do. I know you care about him a lot. At least I lost him to someone who cares about him as much as I did. However, you care about the real person not the illusion as I did. I am also sorry I said all those nasty things about you. I should have known they weren't true, but I believe the gossip like everyone else. I'm sorry about the situation that trigger those rumors. No one deserves that."

"Chad I'm sorry I never got to know you. After watching your confessions on film, I think you you would be a cool person to know. Maybe in a few months we can try to be friends. Just give me time. You'll probably see me this summer working off my debt to Sharpay's father at Lava Springs. Sharpay, please thank you father for not reporting me to Yale's Judiciary Committee. Do you know that most universities have agreements, that if you do something really bad at one school you can be punished at your school? Anyway I am sorry for being a bit psychotic yesterday." After watching the video apology they just sat quiet for a moment.

"You convinced your father not to have this report to Yale."

"She most likely would have got expelled for what she did. She is still being punished. But now its community service and anger management counseling." before she could finish she felt his mouth on hers as her back slowly made contact the new silky blanket.

"This is why I love you. You are the most wonderful person in the world Sharpay Evans." Before she could take in his words she felt his mouth on hers once more. She really did not think about anything else that night.

* * *

A/N: Although Chad and Sharpay are now together this is not the end of this story. Remember the title is Scenes from Freshman Year. It's only October. There are lots of adventures to be had. Up next are midterms. I hope the next few chapters can go back to a normal size because most of the heady stuff is over for a while. I thought about breaking this one up, but there wasn't a good place to divide the material.


	14. Murphy’s Law As it Applies to Midterms

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I did end up changing the title, but not much of the content. I noticed that the hits were severely down, probably because it was over 10,000 words. A lot of the stuff that happened in that chapter that is pertinent to the rest of the story.

Chapter summary: Midterm projects disasters involving destroyed computers and a certain file comes back to bite Chad and Sharpay on the ass.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical or any of the songs in this

Warning : This chapter is not going to be very linear. However, it is shorter than the last one.

* * *

Chapter 14 Murphy's Law As it Applies to Midterms.

October 21,2008 4:30 PM

Sharpay was completely exhausted, more so than when she had to put up with Darby's psychotic rehearsal schedule. She wanted to do nothing more than curl up with her favorite boyfriend shape pillow and sleep for the next 48 hours. With her English midterm tomorrow, it will more likely be her and Chad going over their notes together.

During the last two days, Sharpay ran lines with Jackie and Jimmy for the fall musical production of _Taming Of The Shrew_ that will probably be more like the musical version of _10 things I hate about you_. She also had to rewrite the script twice. She survived her chemistry midterm with only minimum damage. Although, most of her exhaustion was triggered by the exercise in Murphy's law that was her film class project. She did not want to think about that disaster. Kim was probably planning something horrible what they accidentally did to her computer.

Maybe if she was not so exhausted, she would have notice something was off earlier. Her mind was too cloudy with chemistry formulas to pick up on the dirty looks and snickers from her classmates. Maybe if she wasn't going over the answer to question 4 in her head, she would have picked up on the joke when Penelope started humming _What's Your Fantasy_ in the elevator. Maybe if she wasn't thinking about boyfriends time, she would've asked why her next door neighbor asked her if she finally got Chad's pants unzipped. Instead, Sharpay just pushed the idiot into the door for being crude.

Instead of going to Chad's room first, she stopped off in her own room. Ever since she and Chad started dating officially, her room essentially became a glorified closet. Not that she didn't still hang out with Amanda, it was just that she want to be with her boyfriend all the time. There was also the fact she couldn't sleep without him. For some reason he kept the nightmares away. She was so not looking for it to basketball season and out of town games.

When she walked into the room, she noticed Amanda and her two partners in crime staring at the computer in complete shock. As she got closer to the screen, she realized that they were watching a clip from that Drunken Night 08 that Sharpay didn't know existed until yesterday. She and Chad found out Kim accidentally taped Sharpay giving Chad a lap dance the night she was wasted on hard fruit punch. A very topless lap dance to a very dirty song. Personally, Sharpay just wanted the clip to go away.

"Didn't we talk about not breaking into my computer?" sharpay practically yelled at Amanda. "I thought after Taylor pretty much destroyed our dorm room that you would learn your lesson." If was not for the fact that her pseudo nephew would become an orphan, Kim would be dead right now. She could not believe Kim accidentally taped the very intimate/embarrassing moment between her and Chad.

"Trust me no more breaking into other people's computers. I learned my lesson." Amanda said in all seriousness.

"How can you have this, if you didn't break into my computer. If Kim e-mail this to you I am going to spend the next few weeks torturing her. I don't care what I did to her computer."

"I don't think you can be mad at her, since it's on You Tube." Marc joked from the back.

In the corner underneath the footage of a topless Sharpay grinding on Chad as he sat in a chair with the very dirty version of _What's Your Fantasy_ playing in the background, was the _You Tube_ logo. As Sharpay's mind finally processed that the entire world would be seeing her tried to jump the guy that would become her boyfriend, her world suddenly went black.

* * *

October 19, 2008 8:45 PM

Normally Kim found herself crashing, trying to figure out a way to balance work, studying, and her son during midterms. This time everything was under control. An hour ago, she emailed her education project to her instructor. She had all the reading and research for a postcolonial women in literature essay done and should easily have it written by Friday morning. Her other two classes had easy exams complete with study sheets that Kim finished earlier today. Now she was sitting in Chad and Sharpay's room putting the finishing touches on their short film. Alex was sitting on the floor playing with the plush basketball that Chad bought him. Apparently, her nanny had the boyfriend flu again.

The film actually came out pretty good, with the additional interviews from her stepmother Vanessa Kim, the McKessie, and Mr. Bolton. Kim couldn't believe her stepmother Vanessa was the girlfriend that caught Michael McKessie having sex with his former enemy the future Mrs. McKessie, Alexa Brown. Maybe the six degrees of separation thing is true. Although probably the most remarkable thing was that Alexa and Vanessa were best friends now.

The only problem with the project was now the happy couple were bickering over what color the credit should be.

"I think I like the credits better in blue." Chad said to his girlfriend of nine days.

"Of course you think the blue is better. I think the white is more visible." If things go as usual, in about 5 minutes they will start making out followed by five more minutes of arguing to be concluded by Kim getting kicked out of the room so they could have some 'private time'.

"I hate to break up this regular scheduled argument/foreplay. However, I have a kid that probably needs to go to sleep. Just go with the blue credits. Save the document to the memory stick and burn a copy for Mr. West. Then you two can go back to sticking your tongues down each other's throats. Some people don't enjoy watching other people make out when the last time they got any was six months before their kid was born." As if on cue, the last person she got any from decided to call.

"Look I have to take this call. Just save the file." Kim said as she gave the memory stick to Chad and walked out into the hallway for some privacy.

"Hey long time no call." since she told him about their child she tried to keep things as light as possible. They were currently trying to figure out where they were in their relationship.

"It's only been two days. It is so not my fault I am being stalked by my psycho girlfriend. Two months of pure neglect and now I practically have to push her out of my room." Kim wanted to suggest that he break up with the annoying one, but knew better. Troy would just question her motives. Although one thing was for sure, she was going to do everything in her power to make sure Gabriella Montez was not her baby step-mom.

"Maybe she saw you send all those texts messaging to your baby's mama. You did send her some pretty dirty messages a couple weeks ago. All those messages about those wicked things you used to do her with your tongue, in hopes of embarrassing her into dealing with the psychotic one."

"You could have told me my dad was reading those messages. There just some conversations one should never have with their father." She could hear Troy shuddering on the other side of the line.

"Just think in 14 years, you'll be having these conversations with Alex," she said teasing him.

"Oh god no," Troy said with a mock shudder.

"He's exactly like you. Chad calls him Troy2.0 when Sharpay is not around. He's going to do everything you did from sleeping with a girl three years older than him on school property to running off on a 1000 mile road trip without telling anybody. His teenage years are just going to be horrible."

"I was not that bad." She was going to reminds him about getting his girlfriend pregnant at 15, but decided against it. If their child were anything like them, they were screwed. "Also, when is Sharpay not around Chad. Don't they usually have to be within 20 feet of each other otherwise the other one kills over in pain."

"The joys of young love. There currently in the other room probably making out when they're supposed to be saving our project and watching Alex." Kim said sarcastically.

"So what exactly is my son doing right now?" she was always happy when he referred to Alex as his.

"He's playing his basketball in Chad's room while we're trying to finish up. Did you get the file I sent you with your father's interview about how your parents met?

"I can't believe my dad actually did karaoke."

"They were high amounts of alcohol involved."

"No, it's just the same way I meant…

"My replacement," Kim said angrily.

"No one can replace you. You do not like her?"

"Not really. I have not exactly heard the best things about her. Chad doesn't like her because she broke up with EU multiple times over the stupidest things. Sharpay doesn't like her, because she's too perfect and doesn't actually show any emotion other than happiness and perky. I can't repeat what Taylor said when she called a few days ago to check up on her. If I'm going to be replaced, I should be replaced by someone who is a little more…" before Kim could finish her thought, she heard a loud crash felled by giggling and screaming.

"Why do have a feeling that your child just broke something."

"Why is he my kid when he does something bad?"

"I have to blame it on somebody." Walking into the room, she found a disheveled Sharpay and Chad looking very worried. They were looking at the broken glass and plastic that used to be her computer.

"What the hell happened to my computer?" Kim asked so loudly that Troy heard her perfectly fine without the phone being in speaker mode.

"This is so his fault." Sharpay said pointing her finger at her boyfriend.

"How is this my fault? You are the one who kissed me first." Chad shot back at his girlfriend.

"Hey you were the one who kiss back and did that thing with your tongue that makes me lose all coherent thought. Besides, I wasn't the one who lost their balance and knocked the computer off the extra high bed.

"I lost my balance because I got hit in the head with a certain toy basketball."

"That you bought for him. Once again this is your fault."

"Thankfully for you I have accident insurance. Please tell me you burn the CD and save the document on the memory stick before you stuck your hand down her pants." Kim asked the other two trying to stay calm.

"His hands have gone nowhere near my pants. He was…"

"Too much information honey. " Chad said kissing her in a attempt to keep her from revealing any more intimate details. "Don't worry it's on the memory stick." Chad said when they stopped kissing.

"Where is the memory stick?"

"I put it back on your keys and then back in your bag."

"Which is currently being ransacked by your child." Sharpay said pointing to Alex pulling everything out of Kim's bag. Kim turned around to see her child run out the door that she accidentally forgot to shut. Unfortunately, the last person to use the ladies room left the door propped open allowing Alex to walk in without any trouble.

"Alexander Troy Kim give mommy her keys right now." Instead Alex decided to drop her keys in the toilet. Now under normal circumstances she would have time to fish the keys out. Unfortunately this summer for some unknown reason automatic high pressure water saving toilets were installed. As she walked into the stall, the sensors activate causing her keys and memory stick to go down the toilet along with her hopes of having an easy midterm week.

* * *

October 21, 2008 4:37 PM

Chad Danforth was not having a good day or week for that matter. He had the misfortune of having his calculus and chemistry midterms on the same day. There's also the fact that he had to listen to even nastier than normal jokes from his teammates about his girlfriend. With less than 10 days until the season, started practices were becoming longer and this meant he had to spend more time with people he hated. In high school he only had to put up with Rickey, now he had three more guys just like him.

When he finally made it back to his room he expected to find his girlfriend passed out on his bed. Unfortunately he found her literally unconscious in her room. He quickly grabbed her favorite perfume to revive her.

"Thank god you're here," Sharpay said as she hugged him. "I have this horrible dream that the clip of me giving you a very drunken strip tease ended up on the Internet."

"Sharpay that was not a dream." Amanda said sheepishly she pointed to the video playing on her computer.

"Oh god" Sharpay said burying herself under the covers. "How bad is this."

"The whole school is talking about your sex tape." Amanda said quietly to the stunned pair. Suddenly a few of the jokes at practice made sense.

"How can we have a sex tape? We haven't even had sex yet." Chad said with a sigh.

"You have not had sex? Nikki asked in complete shock. "You sleep with him night with him every single day."

"Key word is sleep. Contrary to what was in that clip under normal circumstances I am not that forward." Sharpay said from underneath her pillow. If they were alone, he would bring up that full body massage she gave him after practice last Friday. He currently consider that to be the most sensuous experience of his life, even it really was just a massage.

"Somebody's been taking ice cold showers." Marc snickered from the back. It was true, but he didn't need to talk about it.

"Maybe it's his right hand," Nikki added.

"Or her right hand," commented Marc nastily.

"Do you have anything to talk about besides our sex life?" Chad said angrily.

"It's so entertaining and now we have video." Nikki said to the others. "Hey was this the day that Sharpay walked out of your room in just a T shirt or did this happen more recently?" that remark earned a snack from Amanda.

"Do you have to be so rude to my other friends?"

"I don't know why you are complaining, Amanda. You won $300.00 in the pool about when Chad and Sharpay would finally start dating." Comment Marc.

"I guess now we will have to start one for when they will actually sleep together." Nikki said from the side.

"I have 100 on spring break." Amanda said from behind.

"At least someone thinks I'm not easy." Sharpay said hiding underneath the pillow.

"They'll never make it that long. I'll put 50 on Christmas."

"Please more like Halloween and that's pushing it. They'll be lucky to make it to the end of the week. He's had a hard on for… actually he always has one when he's around her." Chad had the sudden urge to throw out Marc the window. Unfortunately, even Mr. Evans couldn't cover that one up. Fortunately, Amanda picked up the look of murder in his eyes and quickly ushered her friends out of the room before he or Sharpay could engage in homicide.

"This may be a good time to go to the cafeteria. As a cafeteria employee I can tell you the food is more likely to be edible if you get there early. " Amanda said as she quickly pulled the two people out of the room before Chad could seriously hurt them.

"You friends are weird," Chad said walking over to his girlfriend who was currently trying to disappear under her comforter set.

"They're not my friends, there my roommates friends. I think she's starting to get a little tired of them." Sharpay said peeking her head out of the comforter. He instantly noticed the tears running down her face.

"It's okay." He said hugging her.

"No it's not. The entire school and most of the world has footage of me trying to have sex with you to the song_ What's Your Fantasy_. Seriously why do you have the song on your mp three player? You were liked nine when it came out."

"It's a good song."

"For a stripper!"

"Which is why you probably did what you did. I'm not going to get a repeat of that?

"Not any time soon, maybe sometime around spring break." She said smile, with all of which was a good sign.

"Think of it this way, you're not famous until you have a sex tape. You're already ahead of the curve. When you become a famous actress, you can tell everybody that you already had your sex scandal." He said kissing her on the forehead.

"Yes but most of them are actually having sex on their sex tape. I'm going to kill Kim for doing this."

"Unfortunately Considering the way it's cut it looks like we did. You know that Kim did not have anything to do with this. She is your best friend. She would never hurt you. Whoever did this was being malicious on purpose."

"When I find out who posted this, I'm going to kill them literally. I know people. I'm sure I could get away with it."

"Making plans for homicide, isn't going to do anybody any good. How about just go back to our room and I may be persuaded to return the favor for Friday." Unfortunately that never happened because Mr. Evans chose that minute to call. Chad had the sudden urge to hide under the covers with Sharpay and not in the fun way.

* * *

October 20 2008 11:30 AM

"I talked to the technician this morning. My computer is completely dead and she will not be able to extract the files until Wednesday at the earliest. I just like to thank you to for bringing absolute chaos to my midterm's week." From Kim's tone, Sharpay knew buying a new computer would not smooth this incident over.

"That is the day after the project is due. Can we ask for an extension?" asked Chad.

"This professor only gives extensions when he is legally obligated to." Sharpay said to the other two.

"Our only option is to redo the final version. I can get most of the raw material again. When Taylor was here, she burned a copy of all the interviews we did up to that point. I had already called Troy and Taylor to send the footage that they have. I deleted the original files for my emails two days ago thinking I wouldn't need them." Sharpay was thankful for kim's tendency to e-mail stuff to other people.

"We might be able to put something together in the next 15 hours. Sharpay bring your laptop to my house. There's more space there and I don't care if you two make out in the living room. Just remember my child is present. Although you two are putting this back together mostly by yourself. Because I wasn't the one broke the computer or got so busy getting busy but they forgot to burn the CD.

"That seems fair" Sharpay said a after seeing the very angry look in Kim eyes. There is not an expensive enough computer in the world to make up for this mess.

* * *

October 21, 2008 6:39 PM

"Did I mention how sorry I am for accidentally taping that?" Kim said to the group after dropping Alex off with Coach Grandpa.

"Only about 100 times," Sharpay said angrily.

"By the way this makes us even for the computer incident."

"No it doesn't. The entire world has seen me topless performing a strip tease for the guy who wasn't my boyfriend at the time, who just happens to be under age. We won't be even for a very long time." Chad knew Sharpay was ready to pounce at any moment.

"I wasn't the one who posted that on the Internet. I don't even have a copy of the file right now. Because my computer, that you destroyed, is still in the shop for file salvage and transfer to the new computer.

"Can we please stop arguing about this? Kim we're sorry we broke your computer. Sharpay Kim is sorry that she accidentally filmed that scene. However, you know that none of us is responsible for posting it. We need to figure out who had access to the file. Your dad and his lawyers are already getting the file pulled. Let's just stop yelling at each other and do something constructive like figure out who posted the file."

"My dad found out about the post from Ryan. Ryan found out about it from his roommates. I'm definitely not done being mad about this."

"Your father kind of already knew about it." Kim said as she put up a pillow to defend herself as Sharpay through a shoe.

"Penelope didn't leave your calculus class voluntarily she was pulled. I gave all the files from that night to your father. It was the only way we could keep her away from you. I accidentally included all the files." Chad was seriously wondering why he was still alive. Instead of throwing another shoe, Sharpay was hiding under the covers again.

"If it makes you feel better he doesn't blame either of you for what happened. Be glad he knows the full story before he saw the Internet clip, otherwise you would both be dead right now." He knew she was right. If anybody in Albuquerque had connections, it would be Vince Evans.

"Your father's computer is another possible place the computer file could've been accessed from. Other than Troy and Mr. Evans, did anybody else have this file?" Chad ask Kim.

"I don't think so I don't exactly leave my computer lying around. Oh no."

"What?"

"You remember the day you guys got together and I had to baby sit Taylor. After she calmed down some, I let her watch some of the interview footage. I left her alone with my computer for hours. If anybody had a reason for some serious vengeance against the two of you, it would be Taylor."

* * *

October 14, 2008 4:55 PM

"Gabriella you are such a horrible friend. I called you days ago to tell you that my boyfriend left to me for **Sharpay**. He fell in love with someone else. I needed my best friend. Where were you? I know probably getting blitzed at a frat party. You ignore me, you ignore Troy, and you ignore everyone who cares about you. Sometimes I don't even know who you are anymore." Taylor yelled atGabriella after she finally called her back, four days after she left a message Saturday morning after most of the dust had settled.

"I'm sorry, not all of us hold onto the past. I actually have other friends." Taylor noticed Gabriella slight insult.

"I'm not holding onto the past. I just needed someone to talk to. However, you were too busy for that as usual. Don't worry Troy and his ex girlfriend Kim helped me through the whole thing. They make a wonderful team. Kim and I did crying over ice cream thing and watching films together to help me get through what happens. She even called me yesterday to see if I'm okay. I'm actually at peace with the situation right now, no thanks to you." Taylor spat back at her so-called friend.

"What do you mean Troy has an ex girlfriend?" of course Gabriella would focus on that part of her comment. That's what Taylor wanted.

"Kimberly Kim, she is the heir to the Beijing Gardens chain of restaurants and hotels. She graduated the year before you got to East High. She and Troy were together for seven months until she left for college. He was completely in love with her. Don't worry there still **really good** friends. ." Taylor added extra emphasis to the last part. She really wish this was a video phone so she could see the look on Gabriella face.

"So he was serious with her?"

"Maybe you should ask him. Oh, I'm sorry I have to go. My new mandatory chemistry tutor is here. Apparently, part of my punishment for taking a baseball bat to a plasma television is that I have to learn to ask for help. Sharpay really like that television. I have to go." Taylor hung up quickly on her so-called friend.

Taylor probably should not have done that. Although one she found out about Kim and Troy role in setting up the happy couple, she needed to get a little revenge. She may have made peace with the breakup but that didn't mean she wasn't a little mad. Besides it would probably be best if Gabriella knew about their preexisting relationship before she found out about the baby. Although there was no way Taylor was telling her that. Although she hated Gabriella right now, she didn't hate Troy.

* * *

October 22, 2008 5:49 PM

"There's no way I'm going to put something like that on the Internet. Do you think I want everybody to know that my boyfriend left me for someone else?" Chad waited an entire 24 hours before he called Taylor to see if she posted the clip o. He thought about having Kim do it, but he needed to face his ex girlfriend sometime.

"Did I mention I was sorry about that? I never wanted to hurt you. It just, happened."

"Yes several times. I know it was not intentional, but it still hurt. You should be happy I never saw the strip tease clip until a couple of days ago when it was anonymously mailed to me. If I saw that when I was in New Mexico, without hearing the entire story of what happened that night, I would have cut off a certain appendage."

"I get the point. Maybe that anger management classes will be good for you. How is the mandatory tutoring going?" It was hard to have any sort of conversation with his ex girlfriend, especially after the breakup they had. It was like trying to get to know each other all over again.

"I may still have a GPA high enough to transfer to another school. I finally realized that Yale just isn't right for me. I'm looking at Howard, American University, George Washington University, and Georgetown for next school year. If I am in the DC metro, I can do a Federal internship at the same time. I would love to do an internship at the White House or on the Hill.

"My mom is in the DC metro now. She has some connections with the group she's working for. I can talk to her if you want."

"Another thing I didn't know about the person I was with for two years. This is why we really broke up. Where is your girlfriend right now?

"Pre calculus study group with Marc. I'm just hoping she can make it the library without someone yelling taken off your bra or killing Marc. He's currently running a betting pool on when Sharpay and I will either have sex or get married."

"Where can I sign up for that? Personally, my money's is on the Inauguration because I know Sharpay is planning a major trip during the four day weekend no matter who wins. In addition, you will be 18 at that point. She even promised to get me a ticket if she can pull it off. She had better hold that promise, I deserve it after what she put me through. How bad is the fallout over the video? I know I saw a few people on campus watching the video. Fortunately no one knew it was my then boyfriend who Sharpay was trying to undress."

"Even though daddy dearest and his team of lawyers manage to get it pulled up due to the fact the it was stolen and I'm under age in record time, a good portion of the campus saw it. This morning someone printed out screen shots and taped them to the door."

"Your room or Sharpay's?"

"You see, we usually sleep in the same room."

"I would ask how you get away with that. However, considering your girlfriend managed to keep me from being expelled, I am not going to ask."

"That would be prudent," Chad said as Sharpay walked into his room and quickly kissed him. Chad was almost sure Taylor heard the kissing sounds.

"Just because I'm okay with you two being together doesn't mean I want to listen to you make out." Taylor yelled loud enough for both of them to hear without the phone being in speaker mode. Sharpay quickly grabbed the phone out of his hand and put it on speaker.

"Sorry about that. Did I mention how sorry I am about everything? I've been on the other side."

"Can you two please stop apologizing? What is done is done."

"I'm guessing Chad asked you about the video that was posted. " Sharpay seemed very tense talking to Taylor. Chad knew Sharpay still had a lot of guilt.

"There's no way I did would something like that. This whole situation is just as embarrassing for me. By the way has your dad threatened to kill Chad yet?"

"No, but only because Kim showed him the full version a few weeks ago. Chad had a topless drunk girl trying to sleep with him and did nothing but put her to sleep in a separate bed after she passed out. This made him boyfriend of the year material to my father. I know my dad is more interested in the person who put this thing on the Internet. If it was A of U student they're going to be expelled."

"Tell me who posted that on the Internet, I will come down and put that baseball bat to good use again." He clearly heard both girls laughing and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'll let you talk to Chad again. I have to go put my books up in my actual room."

"Your girlfriend is letting you talk to your ex girlfriend?"

"We have a healthy relationship. Besides you hate me remember." He would have said it was because he loved Sharpay with all his heart. He knew better than to tell that to Taylor right now. The wounds were still too bloody.

"Chad, if I hated you, I wouldn't picked up the phone. I do have caller ID. I'm doing a really good job of avoiding Gabriella at the moment."

"Trouble in best friend land?"

"She ignores me for almost two months and now she is trying to be my best friend again. I just can't deal with her at the moment. I need to worry about passing midterms and getting to school in DC."

"She's doing the same with Troy. She has been very clingy for the last week. "

"That might have been my fault. I sort of told her about Kim."

"You told her about Troy having a kid? Are you crazy?" Chad whispered in the phone in case Sharpay was nearby. Kim and Troy didn't want Sharpay to find out until they told everyone else at Thanksgiving.

"I'm not crazy. If you thought I was bad, Gabriella is going to be 1000 times worse when she finds out about Alex. I just told her that Troy's fabulous ex girlfriend was a much better friend than she was. Which is completely true, even though she plotted to get you and Sharpay together. I'm still a little upset about that Troy/Kim conspiracy."

"You can't blame them. If we didn't want to be together nothing would have worked."

"I know, but it still hurts that you love someone else."

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not, but thanks for saying it," she said paraphrasing that famous line. "Falling in love with her was probably the best thing that ever happened to you." He couldn't agree with her more.

* * *

October 18, 2008 5:15 PM Pacific time

Gabriella was worry. Troy never mentioned anything about an ex girlfriend. As far as she knew, she was his only serious girlfriend. She was more worried about the fact they were still friends and Gabriella knew nothing about the person. She definitely did not want him to be close to his ex. If she were thinking rationally, she would just ask Troy who Kim was to him. However, she didn't want to have that conversation with him.

Instead, she decides to take the indirect route. She purposely show up an hour early when Troy was still working with his group on their English project. She told him she would just hang out in his room for a little while. Fortunately, Troy left his laptop in his room and never changed his password. Gabriella really did not pay attention the slide show on troy's computer otherwise she would have noticed the Asian girl holding the little boy that looked a lot like Troy. She was too busy looking for emails or diary entries.

After 15 minutes of not finding anything, she decided to go for the video files. There she found several file folders labeled from Kim. Unfortunately, they were pretty much all files of Chad and Sharpay making out. She decided to send this stuff to Taylor. She doubted the girl knew any of this. She decided it would probably be best to send the files to herself first. Unfortunately, she only had time to send one file to herself before Troy came back early. She barely had time to close the computer before Troy came back.

"I'm sorry I left you up here alone. How about we go to dinner?"

"That's okay I was just doing a little extra reading." She tried to kiss him on the lips, but instead he moved slightly and she ended up kissing him on the cheek instead.

* * *

October 22 2008 9:35 PM

"We are never going to figure out who posted the files." Sharpay said as she leaned into her boyfriend on their bed. After spending the last 24 hours interrogating everyone who could possibly have access to the files, they still had no idea who did it. Sharpay definitely had fun scaring the computer technician earlier today.

"The file was on too many computers. There are at least three possible places where somebody could have got that file." Amanda said as she sat next to Kim on the other bed.

"All of which multiple people have had access to. Not to mention the fact that somebody could have used some malicious means to get the file." Chad pointed out to Sharpay.

"Did I mention how sorry I was about accidentally filming that?"

"That's the first time today," Sharpay said quietly.

"This whole thing was personal though. It couldn't be some random hacker," Amanda said to the group. They purposely edit the clip to make it look a lot worse than what it was. We have been focusing on who had access to the footage. Maybe you should ask who had access to the footage that despises you enough to do something like this."

"Whoever posted the clip also emailed a copy of the original to Taylor. They included a nasty message about not being able to keep her boyfriend happy." Kim told the entire group.

"What nasty e-mail? Did she tell you about that when you talk to her earlier today?" Sharpay asked in worry.

"You let your boyfriend talk to his ex girlfriend?" Amanda asked in shock.

"I actually trust my boyfriend. Besides he knows if he ever cheats on me, that baseball bat in the plasma will be the least of his problems."

"Unlike Taylor, Sharpay knows people. When she gets done with me, the police will never find my body."

"He's so well trained." Sharpay said kissing him quickly.

"Taylor did mention getting the clip via e-mail before it was uploaded to the web. She also mentioned getting in nasty fight with Gabriella for pretty much ignoring her for the last two months. She neglected to mention the nasty email.

"I knew she was evil."

"You don't know it was her Sharpay." Chad pointed out quickly.

"Who else had access to the files that hates us all that much." Sharpay responded back to Chad.

"She doesn't hate me."

You just broke her best friend's heart. Of course, she hates you. Your also the one who keeps telling Troy that he deserves someone better than her. That's plenty of motivation right there."

"She's currently fighting with Taylor. Considering she's too busy getting the 'college experience' to care about what I did to her friend I doubt she hates me." Chad pointed out to his girlfriend.

"She has always hated me. That is probably enough to make her okay with two people she actually likes, becoming collateral damage."

"Who are you two talking about?" Amanda asked after becoming completely lost in their insider conversation.

"The FMG," Kim said with a high amount of loathing. If he did not know about Kim's previous relationship with Troy, he would be a little shocked at Kim's animosity for someone she never met.

"Who?" Amanda asked again.

"My friends current girlfriend who is a little unbalanced." Chad responded to Amanda's question.

"Unbalanced is an understatement. She spent the last two months ignoring him and now she is at his dorm room every day. During midterms. If he flunks out, I blame her." Kim said in irritation.

"She freaked out a couple of summers ago when I bought him Italian shoes and arrange for him to meet the boosters for the school."

"You were trying to take him away from us." Chad said it in half mocking way.

"You seriously need to learn to share." Sharpay said kissing him softly.

"Like I want to share you. I am very possessive." Chad said increased the intensity. He loved the sound she made when his right hand started stroking that little patche of skin just below her top.

"Get a room." Amanda yelled as she threw a pillow at the amorous pair.

"Already have one." Sharpay said kissing Chad again.

* * *

"Are you sure they're not sleeping together?" Kim asked as she left the room.

"I think the fact that Chad has gotten very good at strategically placing books in the morning is a pretty good sign that nothing has happened."

"We should go throw ice water on them."

"As long as it's not happening in my bedroom I don't care. I'm going to go study in my own bedroom for a while."

When Kim reached her car 5 minutes later, she picked up her cell phone to call Troy.

"You better happy that Sharpay loses all cognitive function when Chad kisses her. She was about 5 seconds from figuring out what happened. Chad kissing skills just saved your girlfriends life."

* * *

October 21, 2008 8:21 pm

"Did you send the video of Chad and Sharpay to anyone else?" Troy could easily pick up the frustration in her voice. She seems so much more tired than she was in high school. That wicked voice in the back of his mind reminded him it was because he made her a single parent.

"I sent the water fountain scene to my dad. That was it. There's no way I was going to post it on the Internet. Chad's my best friend and although we had some hard times, I consider Sharpay a friend as well. Besides, at least one of us should make it out of this fiasco in tack. Our child deserves one parent."

"The only reason I'm probably still talking to you is they broke my computer two days ago while making out. So now my punishment, instead of writing my paper due Friday, is I get to figure out who most likely posted the document to the Internet. Did anybody else have access to your computer?"

"Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Between our child and our amorous friends my computer is essentially glass and plastic pieces. There's no way the technician was able to get the file in time to post. I'm going to have to send it to a specialist just to get Alex s baby videos back. The only other person I sent the clip to was Sharpay's dad who's secure the file for evidence against Penelope for the rum punch incident. There's a possibility that it was intercepted, but I doubt that happening. This attack was too personal. The poster sent the file to Taylor before posting it. I did not send this to anyone else. That only leaves one possible source.

"Someone got it off my computer."

"Exactly."

"So who had access to your laptop in the last few days?

"Gabriella"

"She definitely had motivation if nothing else. From what I heard, she and Sharpay are sworn enemies."

"There's no way she would do anything like that. She is not going to sneak around my room looking at my files to get revenge on Sharpay. She is not the type of person to do something that malicious.

"Troy, no one is what they seem. Besides what if it wasn't about Sharpay. Taylor told her about us."

"Fuck," that was the only word that seemed to fit. He didn't want to tell Gabriella about having a child until he and Kim worked out all the custody details. He also wanted to keep things quiet until he decided to stay at Berkeley or move back to New Mexico. He did not want Gabriella to find out like this. "She knows about Alex?"

"No or at least Taylor didn't tell her. Who knows what she could have found on your computer?" He thought about the pictures of Kim and Alex he kept on his computer and on his cell phone. Who knew if she put everything together?

"She just mentioned how your ex girlfriend, who you loved very much, helped her through the big break up. Of course, she made it sound like the whole school knew about our relationship. She told Gabriella that we only broke up because I went to college and we're still really good friends. That is enough to get anyone to break into your computer to see if you're still getting it on with your ex. She probably found the files and decided to post them to get back at Chad, Sharpay, and Taylor." Troy knew Kim was right.

It would explain why Gabriella was actually calling him more often. Gabriella was jealous of the possibility he could be close to someone else. He remembered the summer at Lava Springs when she essentially threw a fit because of all the time he was spending with Sharpay. . Unlike then, Gabriella actually had a reason to be jealous this time because his relationship with Kim was very deep. Sharpay would always be just a friend. However, Even without Alex and some weird way he would always be connected to Kim.

"I just like to say, I really don't want this person to be Alex's future step-mom. You know in your heart that she could do something like this if given the right motivation. I don't think I can trust her with our child."

"I don't know if I can either." Troy whispered to himself.

* * *

October 23, 2008 7:35 PM

20 minutes ago, Gabriella showed up to his room completely unannounced as he was going over his scene with Yolanda for their midterm performance tomorrow. Gabriella pretty much demanded that he focused his attention on her. She was also freaking out because he would be kissing somebody else on stage. If this had been a week earlier, he would be surprised by her jealous behavior. Now he knew better.

As he watched girlfriend for the first time in months, he realized she wasn't the same sweet girl he met almost two years ago. She had change or maybe he was the one that changed. He caught Gabriella talking about the Chad /Sharpay incident in such a nasty way to Yolanda that it all but confirmed Gabriella as involvement. It was the final pushing needed to do what he had been putting off for months.

"Gabriella we need to talk. Yolanda can you give us a few minutes."

"Sure I'll just go something to drink." Yolanda said as she quickly making her way out of the room.

"Nothing good can start with that sentence." Gabriella said as sat down on Troy's bed.

"I think we should take a break."

"What?"

"I don't have time for a serious relationship right now. I have a lot of other things that I need to focus on including school and basketball." In his head, he added Kim and Alex to the list. When Gabriella started screaming at him and throwing things he realized that Chad got off easy with Taylor.

October 24, 2008 4:19 PM

After the week Sharpay had, she definitely needed to speak to her therapist. The web incident was apparently the talk of the campus. There were even tee shirts. She was currently walking around campus with dark sunglasses and a scarf.

"So other than filling violated because the entire school saw something very personal, how do you feel?" Asked Olivia, Sharpay's therapists.

"5 minutes from a nervous breakdown. I am not going to withdraw like last time though. This time I have Amanda and Kim for support when people call me nasty names. It feels good to have real friends.

"What about Chad?"

"He should probably be as mortified as I am, but he's not. Except for the fact I found out what I did that night."

"He never told you what you did?"

"He probably thought it was safer." Sharpay said with a smile. "Chad has been there for me through this entire thing. It made me realize something very important."

"Was is that Sharpay?"

"That I love him. I'm just scared to fall in love again. I mean you know about all my other relationships. In addition, what I feel for Chad is not high school love. My feelings for Chad are of the messy and complicated until death do us part variety.

"How does this make you feel?

"Absolutely terrified, but in a good way. "

* * *

October 20, 2008 1:05 AM

Gabriella sat pudding the last touches on her ultimate revenge again Sharpay Evans and her boyfriend who couldn't keep his mouth shut to Troy. Even though she tried to be nice to Sharpay for Ryan sake, she could not stand the girl. The fact that she successfully took Taylor's boyfriend proves what an evil person she truly is.

Before she transferred to East High and actually have friends, she spent a lot of time playing around with her father's video editing equipment. Of course, that was before the divorce. It was hard to make friends when she moved around so much because of both for their jobs. The computer became her best friend. This allowed her to have skills to completely manipulate the file she found on Troy's Computer. It was bad enough on its own. Sharpay was practically screwing Chad right there on the chair with the appropriate music playing in the back. She already sent the unedited version to Taylor with a nasty note attached. Now all she needed to do was anonymously post this version to the web. Gabriella would finally have the perfect revenge on Sharpay without any consequences for herself. It was the perfect plan.

* * *

October 24, 2008 4:32 PM

Chad was quietly waiting for Sharpay outside of her doctor's office. Until this whole thing died down, he didn't want her to be anywhere by herself. The therapy session went well, because she came out smiling. He loved her smile. He grabbed her hand as they made their way to the car.

"So did you have a breakthrough in therapy today?" Chad asked her with a smile.

"Actually I did."

"What was that?" He asked her as he kissed her lightly on the lips

"I love you."


	15. Number One Fan

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I do love to hear feedback.

Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical

* * *

Chapter 15: Number One Fan

October 31, 2008

Kim walked into the frenzy of fall musical preparation which was East High auditorium with her toddler Alex. She didn't remember the preparations being this frenzied when she was a student here. This year they were performing an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew called the Taming of the Drama Queen. With only seven days to the first performance, Sharpay was going into pure diva mode. Unfortunately, neither Chad nor Ms. Darbus were around to keep Sharpay from scaring the freshmen. She was currently yelling at a boy who couldn't be more than a sophomore.

"Donny you did a great job last year as a stage manager despite the last minute substitution. However, what you did last time does not matter. We have seven days to the curtain goes up. The sets are not together, half the cast does not know their lines, and you brought me the wrong cappuccino. Just fix it." Sharpay said as she threw her cappuccino back into Donny's hands.

"I am glad you could help out Kim even though you're going to miss the opening night because of your family thing. I see you brought the littlest star." Sharpay ran over to hug them as soon as she noticed they were there.

"I didn't have a choice, the sitter canceled again. I see the drama bitch is back."

"Not really, Chad has Jason watching me. If I use excessive diva behavior he's going to make me sleep in my own room tonight." For some reason the phrase old married couple popped into Kim's mind at that comment.

"That wasn't excessive?"

"As long as I didn't dump the cappuccino on top of Donny, it was not excessive. Besides the production is a complete mess. Ms. Darbus is at another doctor's appointment which means I'm in charge of entire rehearsal. Because two of the lead characters are on the basketball team they cannot do after school rehearsals with the rest of the cast. This means tomorrow is going to be the only day we're going to be able to do a full cast rehearsal. In addition, some of our female casts members cannot be in a room t long enough to rehearse more than two scenes without a fight breaking out. At least I could pretend to like Gabby, who is happily gone from our lives for good." Kim was almost positive that Sharpay it was more happy about Troy's break up with the FMG than she was. Despite not being aware that Gabriella posted the clip that essentially made Sharpay the biggest joke on campus.

"You know for somebody who's completely in love with someone else you are a little too happy about this breakup?"

"If you knew Gabriella you would be celebrating to. However, that is unimportant. I need to figure out how to keep this play from going to hell. My entire grade for this program is riding on this performance. If it goes badly, I am going to fail this class. I always wanted to be in charge of the production. Now I get my wish I get all the headaches and I don't even get to be in the play." Sharpay said with a pout as she sat back in her chair with Jason beside her.

"I doubt the production is going that badly. Kat and Bianca look pretty good out there." Kim said to Sharpay assuming that the girl was overreacting again because things seemed fine.

"First of all that's not Kat and Bianca, that is Lucy and Heather. Because we have more girls than boys in the drama program as usual, we reversed the gender on a couple of the characters." Sharpay told her friend.

"Kerri is playing Lucy the transfer student who falls in love with star basketball player William. Unfortunately, William's mother will not let him date anybody until his older sister has a boyfriend. This makes almost every cheerleader at EHS very sad, including head cheerleader Heather, played by Tiara. Unfortunately, William sister Catalina, played by Jackie, has scared off the entire male population of EHS due to her aggressive nature. Lucy and her new friend Tyler, played by me, get William's teammate Pedro, played by Jimmy, to date Catalina on the condition that he becomes basketball captain next year." Jason answered while reviewing his copy of the script.

"Unfortunately do to Tiara's possible but unproven role in the welcome back dance incident the two girls can't stand each other. Fortunately, there not supposed to. However, add Jackie to the mix and it is like throwing a match on a propane tank. They both want to kill Tiara, which I would be all for If it didn't ruin the production. Every time I try to justify recasting the role of Heather, Tiara goes into miss perfect mode in from Ms. Darbus. In the interests of keeping everyone alive, Jackie is working with Jimmy right now. " Sharpay continued in explanation.

"I thought you said he had basketball practice?" Kim asked in confusion

"He does, along with Nicholas Cross, who is playing William. I came to a compromise with Coach Bolton. Now that his son is a theater major he is a bit more understanding. He is letting Jackie go over lines the gymnasium as long as he keeps playing. Apparently, it is some certain exercise in keeping focused. Don't ask, it was something that Chad came up with. It works, so I will not ask questions."

"I think Tiara just went back to the old version." Jason said interrupting the other two."

"Jason, can you please go up there and go over the new lines with her?"

"Sure," Jason says as he takes the latest version of the script to the stage.

"Why don't you have Karri work with Nicholas in the gym?"

"They usually work together after basketball practice. Kerri doesn't like going into the gym anymore, because of you know." That last part was said in a whisper.

"How was she handling being back?"

"She is doing a lot better than I did. I didn't have a support network like she does. You were dealing with Alex drama in New York, Darby was off being Darby, Ryan didn't know, daddy was in Asia, and Chad was an enemy at the time. Kerri has many people helping her through this, despite those making it harder. The cheerleaders aren't speaking to her which is why she is the newest member of the drama club after she quit cheerleading. She's doing a really good job as Lucy. Unfortunately, members of the basketball team that are still loyal to Ricky call her all sorts of nasty names when Jimmy or Mr. Bolton are not around. On the bright side at least nobody is wearing a T shirt depicting her most embarrassing moment." Just then, a junior serving a Ms. Darbus styled detention came by wearing one of the infamous "fantasy girl" T-shirts referring to Chad and Sharpay's almost sex tape.

The almost sex tape scandal didn't quite go away after it was pulled from You Tube. Sharpay and Chad were still getting nasty comments from some of the more infantile students on campus. If it wasn't for Mr. Evans personally explaining what happened to the basketball coach Chad probably wouldn't be playing tonight.

She would personally fly up to Stanford to kick Gabriella's ass for posting that to the Internet if Troy would let her. Gabriella had no idea the damage she did by posting that clip. Even though Troy dumped the FMG in high drama fashion because of her treacherous behavior, Troy didn't want anything bad to happen to her. Like Sharpay ripping her hair out by the roots when Sharpay finds out who made her the laughing stock of campus. Which is why, first she's not allowed to tell Sharpay what happens. Second, she is not allowed anywhere near the Stanford campus, this is why their meeting up at his first away games next week for him to see Alex.

"Principal Matsui is such a hypocrite. He let students were dirty T-shirts like that and then he's freaking out over the very mild sexual content in the play. Trust me the sexual content is a very mild considering that a 12 year old is helping adapt the play. Apparently, we cannot have any kissing scenes or bad words like Dag." Sharpay rolls her eyes as she says this. "For some reason our principle things everybody at this school lives in a Disney reality where nobody says bad words, gets laid, or hates each other. He's already made us rewrite the play three times to tone down the "questionable material". I think the Princess Diary films had more "questionable material". At least there were some kissing scenes in that film and they imply that the queen was sleeping with her bodyguard."

"He probably doesn't get the joke with the T-shirts. Why did he approve this play in the first place if he keeps making you rewrite it?"

"Actually he rejected the play two years ago. We had all the songs together already and then he said no for some reason. We ended up doing an adaptation of Cinderella instead. Of course, in our version, the stepmother couldn't be overly abusive, the fairy godmother couldn't use magic, and Cinderella couldn't kiss the prince. The last part was fine, because I had to play Cinderella opposite my brother. Why couldn't we do that production after Troy Bolton made it cool to act?"

"You know that might have been why all those incest rumors were started," called Sharpay's favorite person holding her double shot soya latte with extra foam.

"You were the one that started them." Sharpay said as she took the cup from him.

"Trust me I know better now." Chad said as he leaned in to kiss his girlfriend.

"You better, " Sharpay said as she slightly pulled back.

"No kiss?" Chad said with a small pout.

"I'm the adult in charge and I have to set a good example. Therefore, the PDA policy applies to us. Aren't you supposed to be at practice?" Sharpay said as she squeezed his hand.

"If you remember correctly, today is the first game of the year. There's no practice on game days. You will be there tonight?"

"Of course I will. Troy sent me flash cards so I have some idea of what's going on." Sharpay answered her boyfriend as she started to laugh at her.

"I thought I would come down to keep you from scaring the children and to prevent you from pouring your coffee on Don you again." Chad said as he took Jason's former seat.

"It was one time during production last year. Don't look at me like that, Kim. It was an iced cappuccino. Is it my fault I get tense during production?"

"Maybe I can do something about all that tension." Chad said as he began rubbing her shoulders. This was probably just as against the PDA policy as their normal make out session. As Chad concentrated on turning Sharpay into a puddle, several jealous girls working on the set made comments like "I wish I had him as my boyfriend". This was put to a stop when Jason and Tiara started arguing on stage.

"You little troll; I don't care if you wrote the play. I am the start of this play. I will say the lines anyway I please." Tiara yelled at Jason from the stage.

"How can she think she's the star? In the original play Hortensio was a secondary character at best even though he had the largest ego." Chad whispered to his girlfriend.

"Why do you think we cast her in this part? As much as I enjoy your hands, I have to go take care of that." Sharpay said pushing his hands away reluctantly." Excuse me I need to show the British one who is queen bitch. Why can't she pulled the diva act when Ms. Darbus is here?"

"Now I'm never going to find out how you manage to get permission to do a play that the principle hates." Kim said in annoyance.

"Chad was the one who came up with the idea to get the play approved." Sharpay said as she walked to break up to fight on stage.

"He doesn't hate the play; he's just been overly sensitive due to recent events." Chad said with a sigh.

"I don't remember him being this bad."

"Rumor has it he went off the deep end when a couple of students were caught fornicating on the roof two years ago. That was not a rumor was it?" Chad asked after picking up on her furious blushing.

"Not really. It was Ms. Darbus that caught us on the roof and that's all saying."

"Seriously, how did I not catch you guys?" Kim chosen not to answer that question. "After that incident he tried to remove all questionable material from the school's curriculum. He even tried to remove _Hamlet _and the _Scarlet Letter_ from the AP curriculum, that didn't work at all. Now due to the incident at the welcome back dance two months ago, the censorship has increased tenfold."

"So instead of having classes about sexual assault prevention, he is removing kissing scenes from the school play. Does he have any idea how ridiculous that is?" Kim said with a snide laugh.

"Pretty much. It's easier for him to keep his head in the sand."

"That still doesn't explain how this play was approved?"

"Because of the special grant, the school received for this year's fall production must be an adaptation of a Shakespearean play. I just suggested to Sharpay to provide the principle with options from the Shakespearean plays with the most questionable content so that he would cut those right away and let her keep the one she actually wanted."

"What were the other choices?

"His other choices were _Twelfth Night_ that involves crossed dressing; _Julius Caesar_ with murder and treason; _Hamlet _with suicide, sordid marriages, and treason; and _Romeo and Juliet_ with five make out scenes, a sex scene with nudity, a couple of murders, and a double suicide."

As they heard Sharpay use words that probably should not be said at a school, they turned back their attention back to Sharpay who was probably 30 seconds from pulling out Tiara's hair.

"I think you need to go up there before your girlfriend kills somebody"

"She is fine. She's already using her breathing techniques."

"Tiara if you want to be a professional actor you need to grow up. Go get yourself a cappuccino and comeback in 30."

"There's a certain amount of irony in those words coming from Sharpay" Chad whispered to Kim as they kept watching.

"Don't even think about hanging around my boyfriend. He doesn't do jail bait." Sharpay said when she noticed Tiara was making her way to Chad.

"Aren't you both 17?" Kim asked Chad quietly.

"Only chronologically. Psychologically, I'm a college sophomore and she's a high school junior. "

"Jason do you mind standing in for Nicholas so we can go over some of the scenes with Lucy and William."

When Sharpay made it back to her seat, she grabbed onto Chad's hand and started muttering only seven more days repeatedly under her breath.

* * *

He left the school as soon as he got Sharpay calm enough not to kill innocent teenagers. Not that he really wanted to leave. For the first time in his life, he wasn't looking forward to the start of a new basketball season. Out of all his teammates, he can only stand to spend time with three of them. Pretty much everybody else was a complete asshole. They usually made nasty comments about him being the school's second choice because they couldn't get Troy. Worse, they would argue he was only there because he was screwing the daughter of one of the trustees. The better he played in practice the worse they were. Today in his locker he found a screen shot of Sharpay topless taped inside. He calmly tore the picture down and threw it in the trashcan. He would kill Gabriella if Troy would let him for posting the video. Unfortunately, the break up would probably be her only punishment.

"So Danforth did you and your little girlfriend make any more videos?" Called out Derek, one of the seniors on the team, that Chad could not stand. Derek had NBA dreams but not the skills. Unfortunately, he did not use his college education for anything other than a means to keep playing. Chad should probably keep his mouth shut. However, he just didn't feel like it today.

"Why do you ask? Is your current significant other just not doing it for you? they have wonderful medication for that now. Although I can understand why you would want to watch, Trust me Sharpay is so much more, then that Christy who you were bragging about her blowjob skills. Then again, maybe it was Jordan who was talking about vacuum her like qualities when you were with the coached other day. It's hard to keep up with who is doing who when you keep going around with the same trash instead of being with a person who actually respect themselves and you. Then again, it could just be a cover. It's not the first time I've seen the hyper heterosexual act used to compensate." Before the other Derek can retaliate, Chad walked away thinks his mom for making him take an academic scholarship instead of the basketball scholarship.

* * *

As Sharpay signed her third T-shirt for the night while her friends picked up their basketball snacks, Sharpay thought about that old adage 'be careful what you wish for'. Even wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap, and one of Chad's A of U sweat shirts people still recognized her as the "What's Your Fantasy" girl. All she wanted to do was watch her boyfriend's first game in a red hawk's uniform. Instead, she was subjected to dirty jokes, autograph seekers, and the radio version of that certain song being played every time she entered the room. She was close to dying her hair blond again, but Chad preferred her natural hair color. However, she was pretty sure nothing would actually work.

"Didn't your dad tell you to lay low? I don't think signing autographs counts as lying low." Nikki asked her as they made their way with Marc and Kim.

"There is nothing more surreal than getting sex tape advice from your father." Kim said to the other two.

"You can only hide so long before it starts to drive you crazy. I tried hiding last time and it didn't work. This time I'm going to embrace it. Besides I did nothing wrong on that tape because it happened was someone I love very much."

"Except when that was made you were drunk at the time, he was technically dating someone else, and you were still denying that you actually had feelings for him." Marc pointed out as they walked into the main auditorium. Some time she hated Marc for pointing out the obvious.

"If you're not embarrassed, then why are you wearing sunglasses and a sweatshirt? I didn't think Sharpay Evans own a sweatshirt." Kim said to her best friend.

"It's comfortable. Besides I still don't own a sweatshirt, this is Chad's." Sharpay could easily see both Marc and Nikki rolling their eyes at her as they finally found their seats up front.

"I can't believe you talk to me in to suspending my first child free Friday night since you created that video at a basketball game."

"I don't know why you are complaining. You dragged me to a wildcat games or two during sophomore year. I swear you must have had a crush on one of the players. After the game you can go party crashing with the devious duel and Amanda before you have to pick up the littlest pumpkin tomorrow morning."

"Were only here to see Amanda's routine." Nikki said to the others.

"We also came to see if Amanda could go the entire game without trying to kill Penelope. " Marc added.

"What about Chad?" Sharpay asked with a pout.

"Like we can compete with his number one fan." Marc said as the game began to start.

"Where is Alex?" Nikki asked as she started eating our popcorn.

"I'm letting my stepmom Vanessa take him out for the annual festival of cavities and sugar rush. Vanessa feels like She is missing something because she never had the opportunity to raise a child. I try to let her do things with Alex as much as possible so she doesn't make me the big sister to a child that's younger than my own."

"I can understand that. I have a half sister that's younger than Alex." Nikki said to the others.

"The joys of divorce." Kim said softly.

"In my case it was the joy of widowhood and remarriage. My mom died when I was 12. Sarah was my father's best friend since college and after mom died they just fell into a new type of relationship." The four stayed quiet after that.

As the others concentrated on their junk food, she watched her boyfriend. She knew he wouldn't be getting a lot of playing time because he was the new person. She watched him sitting on the bench for most of the first half, just waiting peacefully. Her boyfriend never waits patiently. She remembered sophomore year where he was jumping up and down on the bench just waiting to get into the game. He just didn't seem like that same boy who used to carry a basketball with him everywhere in high school.

With 2 minutes left in the first half with the team down by 15 points, the coach finally let Chad in. The moment he stepped onto the court, she could feel the air change. He was absolutely beautiful on the court. Every movement was as graceful as anything she performed on the stage. . The problem was, he wasn't happy. She could see it from the stands. By the time the half came A of U was only trailing by two points.

"I can't believe Chad is an actual basketball player. I mean Amanda is a brainy cheerleader, so a brainy basketball player couldn't be that far off. However, it's just hard to believe that the guy who can understand how to solve differential equations in minutes is that good." Sharpay wanted to laugh that the irony of the situation. Their high school friends could not believe super jock was a genius and their college friends couldn't believe the brainy one was an excellent basketball player.

"Chad plays basketball like he does calculus. It's natural to him. He doesn't have to study or in this case really practice. All you have to do is show him how to do something once and he gets it. He can do this with solving complex problems, learning a basketball play, or learning choreography. This meant that Chad could play welland still only give 50%. This is what he's doing it right now."

"What do you mean he's only giving 50%? He's one of the better players out there on either team." Nikki said in shock.

"I agree with Sharpay. I saw him play when he was a sophomore and he's playing at a skill level slightly less than what he was using then. I'm sure he's improved sense sophomore year." Kim told everyone.

"Dramatically, especially when he became co captain senior year."

"He looks miserable down there," Kim whisper to Sharpay. She could not help but agree. She couldn't let him stay like this.

* * *

Every single muscle in his body hurt. In high school after a game, he would have tons of energy to hang out with his friends and hit the after parties. Unfortunately that usual postgame high wasn't there anymore. Of course he had better things to do than Halloween/celebration parties with people he really didn't like, such as anything whatsoever involving his girlfriend. He really didn't feel like celebrating. Nothing like being yelled at for helping the team win to kill his desire to celebrate.

In an effort to avoid the Halloween partys on campus and the dorms they were the spending the night at Sharpay parents vacation house at Lava Springs. The vacation house is definitely smaller than the mansion in town. However, Sharpay's room had a private hot tub. A hot tub he was definitely enjoying as his girlfriend walked in wearing her trademark pink bathrobe.

"I thought you said you didn't want to join me" Chad said as Sharpay sat on the edge of the tub dangling one foot in the water.

"I don't. I just figured I would have a better chance of having this conversation with you if you were too afraid to leave without showing me little Chad." She said holding up the shorts he took off a few minutes earlier.

"You're so evil," he said as he went over to kiss her, but Sharpay pulled away.

"No kissing, until you tell me why you are so miserable down there tonight even though you won the game. Then maybe I'll think about joining you." She said as she took off her robe revealing a bikini that made her swimsuit attire of two years ago seemed tame. Thinking about it now the only thing that kept him from throwing her in the lake that summer was those bikinis that inspired a few very inappropriate dreams where he removed it with his teeth. He should have realized then that he really didn't hate her.

"I was not miserable down there, " he said with a pout that she usually gave him. She was really rubbing off on him.

"Yes, and we were just friends before you and Taylor broke up. Trust me; I know when you're miserable. The only time you were a little happy was when Penelope sprained her ankle during the halftime routine."

"That was funny."

"It was the only time you were not miserable down there. It feels like you lost your love for the game. You're still a great player, it's just you don't have the same passion for the game." It is hard to have passion for something that's no longer fun. There was no way he was going to tell her that. Nor was he going to tell her that he was thinking of not playing basketball anymore.

"How can you tell? You didn't exactly go to any games in high school."

"Please between my mandatory acting classes, dance classes, and time spent with the voice coach do you really think I actually had time to go to a basketball game in high school? I barely had time to eat. Trust me I needed a personal assistant in high school. Even when Kim dragged me to a few games sophomore year, we had to lie to my mom. The only reason Ryan made it to any games was he convince mom that cheerleading was an excellent substitution for his dance classes and it would look good on his Juilliard application. Trust me, I saw you play a lot even though you didn't know I was watching."

He always assumed that Sharpay was the one who wanted to be the superstar; he had no idea that Darby was the one pulling the strings all along. The fact that since college Sharpay has not gone to a single dance class, voice lesson, or yoga class pretty much told him the truth.

"So exactly when were you spying on me?" he asked her as he started to tickle the one foot she had dangling in the water.

"Do you remember when you're working at lava springs, after everything calm down that you and Troy use to play one on one on the private court in the backyard here?"

"Ryan said we could because technically it wasn't on club property."

"I know. I gave him the idea. It turns out from my bedroom I had an excellent view of you and Troy playing basketball shirtless." A course she said this with that trademark smirk of hers. Three months ago, he would say the only reason she did something like that was to drool over Troy. Now he knew better. They've been attracted to each other for years even if they were not consciously aware of it.

"You're so evil, you realize that."

"You love me anyway."

"I wouldn't be here otherwise. So what did you learn when you were gazing at my chest." That earns him a quick kick from her.

"Every day that you and Troy would play, I would watch from my room. Not that I would admit it at the time, I realized you were fabulous out there. You could easily figure out what he was doing next. It was like watching a choreographic dance. You were able to understand moves quickly that Troy would have to practice over and over again.

"You sure you were just watching us for your own pleasure?" He still had too much fun getting her angry over little things.

"Maybe a little. You got to admit two hot sweaty guys playing basketball is definitely a turn on. You are definitely my favorite now. You were having so much fun out there back then. Sometimes I wish I could be like that on stage in high school. Before last summer, I never really had fun on the stage. It was always about the best part and winning a trophy at any cost. At certain Point I just got so tired of it." He understood what she was saying because he felt like he was falling into that same trap.

"Tonight when I watched you, it's as if something was missing." Sharpay said as she looked him directly in the eyes.

"Other than the fact that all my friends are gone."

"Maybe that has something to do with it. However, that's not everything. You're missing your love for the game. That summer I saw this fire in your eyes every time you're on the court. Baby it is just not there."

"You just talked about not having fun on the stage because it became about being been the best and not about performing for the sake of performing. I used to play basketball because it was fun. At some point it stop being fun. How can I have fun if everyone keeps saying things like 'Troy was such a better player' or 'your only on the team because your screwing Mr. Evans daughter." Sharpay it's kinda hard to believe that I'm really good when the coach and everyone else keeps comparing me to Troy." He never admitted that to anyone before. He never trusted anyone enough to admit that sometimes he was jealous of his best friend.

"Please their only saying that because they're jealous of how good you are. Let me tell you something that no one else knows. You are better than Troy Bolton in a million different ways. The basketball court just happens to be one of them. Schools were flocking around Troy because of his natural leadership skills. The thing was you were always the better player. A of U scouts got very serious about you once the people from the ivy league schools starting showing up at the games. What school wouldn't want a guy who got a 2154 on his SAT and a 4.0 GPA." A part of him does not believe her. He's too used to being in his best friend's shadow.

"You don't believe me. Come on to you really think Stanford sent a basketball coach to talk to Gabriella about going to the school. They were trying to make it look less conspicuous. Everybody knows the schools were here for you. Well everybody, who knew that you made freaky math girl seem of average intelligence." Sharpay said as she kissed him hard on the lips. As usual, she overbalanced and fell right on top of him in the water.

"I knew I would get you in here." He said with a smirk. "Now is there any chance that you'll be taking this barely a swimsuit off tonight?"

"Not a chance Danforth. You should be happy I'm in here with you when you're naked. It's going to take at least another month or few glasses of wine before I'm going to be comfortable enough to do that." She said it as a joke, but he knew that there was a certain amount of truth to her statement. Wasted on hard fruit punch this beautiful girl in front of him had no problem being with him in the most intimate way possible. Stone cold sober and she was absolutely terrified of doing anything beyond very heated kisses. One of these days, he was going to kill Richard for screwing his girlfriend up so much. He had no idea how to help Sharpay work through her fears about being physically intimate, despite the amount of research he has done on this subject. The fact that she got to the point where she trusted him enough to say that L word was a miracle in itself. Fortunately, he loved her more because of her imperfections.

"You know we're taking this at your pace." He said to her as he placed his hand on her face. "If I wanted an easy lay, I would be with someone like Penelope. I don't care about that. All I want is you, with your craziness and insecurities. Good things are worth waiting for. I'll take whatever you're willing to give, because I'd do love you." He said reassuring her.

"This is exactly why I love you." he was almost sure he saw her tear up.

* * *

November 1, 2008 7:00 AM Lava Springs basketball courts

"Okay exactly why are we out here on the private Lava Springs courts at 7:00 AM?" Chad asked Sharpay as they walked onto the court. Despite it being November and so early in the morning the place was quite busy. Nothing like busy executives trying to get a quick game in on the weekend as soon as the suns up.

"Getting your love of the game back. After our conversation last night, I decided you needed an intervention. I thought about recreating the strip basketball scene from _Love and Basketball, _but I decided against it. First, knowing our luck Kim would accidentally leave her camera on and catch the whole thing. Second, despite the flash cards, the only thing I know about basketball is that the balls are this hideous orange color and I have to try to throw them through a hoop. Therefore you're going to teach me how to play." As soon as she finished explaining her plan, he gave her that 'I think you're crazy"look of his.

"I think I prefer the game of strip basketball. This isn't going to be like Troy trying to teach you how to play golf is it? I saw you getting a hole in one when I was caddying for you instead of Troy." Chad caddy for her a lot that summer. She was always wearing skimpier outfits when he was around. They would spend the entire time arguing with each other and then she would find herself getting really angry every time he kissed Taylor. She was pretty sure that was their version of foreplay or flirting at the very least.

"I was following mommy's advice by making myself look weak to attract a man. That's the last time I listened to Darby about anything. Apparently, you love me exactly the way I am."

"I do," Chad said giving her a quick peck on the lips.

"Growing up in the country club set, knowing how to play golf is a required survival skill. Fortunately, I inherited dad golf skills and Ryan inherited the baseball skills. Unfortunately, they were no basketball skills. In this case, I am actually going to be that bad.

"This is supposed to help me out?" she could hear the skepticism in his voice.

"I told you last night I was miserable at the end of my acting career at EHS. . You saw how miserable I was trying to be Gabriella. The entire time I felt like everybody hated me because I had to be her. The harder I tried, the worse I felt. I was even considering just majoring in business after losing the Juilliard scholarship." She couldn't believe she was telling him this. Ryan didn't even know about her even considering leave the theater for good.

"I'm glad you change your mind. you doing a great job with the play." She couldn't help but smile when he said things like that.

"Thank you. Would help me change my mind was doing community theater this summer and helping out at EHS. Even though I want to strangle Tiara, I'm having fun working with Jason, Jimmy, Kerri and Jackie. I figured if you share of the game with me maybe, you will rediscover why you loved it in the first place. If that doesn't work, if I get good enough I might be willing to try strip basketball eventually." He had this look of absolute shock on his face.

"Why you think we're at the private court here than at some of the courts on campus when I have to be back at EHS at noon?" Sharpay said as she threw the ball at him.

* * *

Surprisingly Sharpay wasn't that bad. This definitely wasn't the golf fiasco. She picked up on things quickly. But then he remembered her doing that during the musical rehearsals. Unless she was screwing up on purpose to make Ryan or Troy upset. This was the first time he has had fun playing basketball in forever. Although it may have something to do with all the kissing and extremely inappropriate touching that he would never do in a real basketball game.

"You're happy?" she said sitting on the side of the court. She looked absolutely beautiful covered in sweat with her hair in a messy ponytail in a pair of his old basketball shorts. He loves when she wears his clothing.

"Yeah I am."

"Do you find your passion yet?

"For you." He said kissing her quickly on the lips

"What can I say, I'm special." Sharpay said as she got off the bench. "Are you ready for another game?"

"As long as it's with you."

* * *

November 1 2008 1:15 PM

He should probably be studying right now. Instead he's watching his girlfriend from the back of the auditorium. He would stay closer to the stage if Tiara didn't keep hitting on him just to set off Sharpay. Despite his girlfriend barely keeping herself from attacking the junior, she was definitely having some fun. Her smile told him everything. She was deathly more relaxed than last year despite the problems with the current production. Making her play Gabby last year was a mistake. No one should have to play her worst enemy. They didn't exactly make it easier for her, with all the comparisons. "We should have just cut Gabby from the show completely or had Tiara play the part." Chad said to the semi empty auditorium not realizing that someone else was listening.

"That probably would've been most prudent. However, they say hindsight is 20/20. Besides I doubt I would have been allowed to do that last year." Ms. Darbus said as she sat down next to him.

"Probably not. We essentially blamed Sharpay for Gabriella leaving for a program that she applied for."

"So what exactly are you doing in my auditorium on a Saturday? You did not like this place even when you were a student here."

"Supporting my crazy girlfriend and making sure she doesn't maim Tiara. I don't know if they will let her stay on if she assaults another student."

"I'm glad you two finally figured out that you actually have feelings for each other. After her little fainting spell last spring, I was tempted to lock you two in a dressing room together. I must say you have been a very good influence on Miss Evans. I doubt last year she could handle having someone else play a role that she wrote for herself."

"What are you talking about? I thought Kelsey wrote all the earlier stuff?"

"Not at all. Sharpay wrote the original draft of the play and the songs herself. Unfortunately, Mrs. Evans threatened to pull out the Evans family money if we ran the production. Apparently, she didn't want anybody to know that Sharpay was more than just a pretty face. I've never met a woman other than maybe Ms. Kim that had so much fun screwing with her children's lives. Both are wretched women. Ms. Darbus muttered under her breath. He couldn't believe that Darby would do something like that but then again according to Ryan and Sharpay she is the original stage monster/manager.

"I'm just glad Sharpay has someone other than Ryan who supports hurt unconditionally. I doubt you would be here on a Saturday watching your girlfriend's musical if you were not her number one fan. Shouldn't you be out making home runs or something?"

"Okay now I know you're doing that stuff on purpose. Even Sharpay knows more about basketball before the flash cards and our tutoring session this morning."

"So that's what they're referring to it as these days."

"We're not-we haven't -I love her- it's just," he was babbling and he knew it.

"I don't need details. Just looking at the way you treat her I can tell you give her the one thing she never really had before, pure unconditional love. As for what you do in your personal life, as long as it doesn't happen on school property I don't really care." Ms. Darbus said with a slight shudder.

"Kim told me about the garden incident."

"I'm still trying to repress that. Then you must know that …

"Why Alex has the middle name Troy? I found out more than a month ago. She told Troy a couple weeks ago. Wait you knew?"

"Did you ever notice that picture on my desk?"

"That was Alex. Why didn't you tell…" then he got it completely. Chad was the only one beside Troy that knew Ms. Darbus summated an application on Troy's behalf to Juilliard. "That's why you submitted the application for him. You were trying to get him to go to New York City so would be with Kim and Alex." Unfortunately, at that moment Tiara and Jackie decided to stop playing nice.

"I really don't know what you're talking about Mr. Danforth. Excuse me I need to break up a cat fight."

* * *

November 5, 2008 7:21 PM

Sharpay walked through the crowd of Evans arena without being noticed. Because it was a school night most of the people in attendance were not students. Those that were students were too busy celebrating or commiserating the events of yesterday to harass her. The Hope T shirts were currently everyone's favorite.

She was alone this time because everyone else needed to study or work. She probably needed to study for her chemistry lab tomorrow, but she promise Chad she would be here. She took her seat right behind the team's bench wearing her custom-made number one fan T-shirt. Having half the school named after you does have its advantages sometimes.

* * *

After Sharpay's Basketball intervention he started to see what was really going on in the locker room. They wanted him gone and they were using these head games to do it. Sharpay was right, they were just jealous. Chad realized he couldn't play the game just to please people who could never be please. Maybe he would just have to find a new reason to play. As he walked in to sit down on the bench he saw Sharpay sitting directly behind wearing her custom number one fan T-shirt with his number on It. She was cheering louder than anyone else. In Her Smile, he found his new reason to play.

A/N: The next chapter will involve the play and encounter between Mr. Evans and his daughter's boyfriend.


	16. 99 Problems revised

**Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter or the earlier version of this one. I accidentally posted the old version of this chapter on 10/24/2009, but did not know I did that until today. Most of the differences were ****very strange grammar mistakes.**

**This is the revised version as of 10/27/2009**

**Sorry for the inconvenience**

Disclaimer: If I owned high school musical Chad and Sharpay would have been together by the third film and Gabriella would have went to college a year early.

Title inspired by the Jay-Z song _99 problems_.

I will be raising the rating to M in the next chapter.

Warning sexual content

Chapter 16: 99 Problems

November 8 2008 7:03 AM Evans family home

Chad sat on the bed in Ryan's old bedroom waiting for Sharpay to finish getting ready. As he was waiting, he decided to call Troy to see how he was handling being thrown headfirst into fatherhood. Unfortunately he must dialed Kim by accident because she was the one who picked up the phone.

For the first time since he and Sharpay got together they slept in separate beds. Considering everything that happened yesterday, they decided not to give Mr. Evans anything else to worry about. Not that it would work, any normal parent would notice the high amount of boxer shorts in his daughter's wardrobe. The Evans parents were not the most observant parents in the world, so maybe that would work to his advantage.

Chad was already dreading having to talk to Mr. Evans this afternoon. He almost snuck into her room four times last night because he wasn't used to being without her. He couldn't believe how normal it was for him to share a bed with Sharpay every night.

"How are things going in Vegas? I'm sure things are going better there, than here." Chad told Kim.

"That's just not possible. I'm the dealing with the big dysfunctional family reunion." He knew Kim was worried about seeing Troy for the first time in over two years considering everything that happen. Troy was just as nervous about the entire Alex thing.

"How are things going between Troy and Alex?" Chad asked as he walked in to Sharpay's room to get his clothing. Sharpay was in the bathroom getting ready, so it was safe for him to talk about Alex in here. Chad was not sure why he went along with Kim and Troy when they told him not to tell Sharpay about the identity of Alex's father.

"Perfect, I caught Troy watching Alex sleeping last night. It was so cute. It was the only peaceful moment so far this weekend."

"It can't be that bad. I thought you and the coach were getting along pretty well. At least you don't have to have brunch with a man who saw you and his daughter almost having sex on the Internet."

"Yes but in your case you can honestly say that you never slept with his daughter. Did I forget to tell you my dad is here? Vanessa has the flu so she cannot come. Instead, we get to spend the weekend with my father who hates both Troy and me. At dinner last night he screamed out you got my baby pregnant six times and he tried to hit Troy once. My father got us kicked out of a restaurant in **Las Vegas**. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get kicked out of anything in Vegas?"

"At least you don't have to spend time with Darby." He could hear Kim laugh a little.

"Have you met my mother? That is the only positive aspect of this weekend. She is not here. You know what Chad; you tell your story and I will tell mine. Let us see who is having the most dysfunctional weekend so far."

"Works for me."

* * *

November 5, 2008 9:55 PM Pacific time

"Your coach knows you're not traveling with the team right?" Kim asked Troy for the 10th time that night.

"My coach knows about everything, you need to calm down. Kim everything will be fine." Troy said trying to calm his… Okay he had no idea what Kim was to him. The statue of their relationship was kind of up in the air with everything else in his life. It was just another thing on the long list of complicated things in his life right now. Kim's name was right there with Gabriella. Gabby was currently trying to get back with him. Part of him still cared about her, but there was no way he will go back to somebody who could hurt his friends like that. Worst of all Gabriella had no remorse for what she put Chad and Sharpay through.

"What do you mean by everything?" Kim's question brought him back from his musings.

"After speaking with my dad, we decided it would be better if the coach knew about Alex now. It would be really bad if he found out accidentally. He's been supportive. He only yelled at me for 15 minutes."

"Did you tell him that you're thinking about transferring?"

"Not yet. I have not even told dad about the possibility. I'm still reading the literature from the NCAA web site. Chances are I would have to sit out a year." Troy spent an hour reading the PDF file and he was still totally confused.

"What would be the point in transferring, you wouldn't even get to play again until after I graduated. I don't know where I'm going to go to grad school. I am sure could I find something in San Francisco. The drama program is a lot better at Berkeley. That's the real reason why you went to school there. It would probably be best if you stayed there. Maybe I should be the one to transfer?" Considering Kim was getting deep into her education classes, transferring for her wouldn't be that practical either.

"Another thing for us to talk about this weekend." Troy said with a sigh.

"I think the only reason why I'm bringing your dad and Vanessa with us, is so they can watch Alex while we go through all the decisions."

"Are you okay with dad coming?"

"Your dad, yes. He's been really helpful. Alex loves coach grandpa. In addition, he taught me how to write a practical lesson plan. Now if it was my father I would be absolutely terrified." Troy could pick up the uneasiness in her voice instantly.

"He can't be that bad? I thought he was the good parent."

"Only compared to my biological mother. Daddy can't decide whether he hates me more for getting pregnant at 18 or you for getting me pregnant at 18. Besides, I think we are going to need your dad there for when we strategize how to tell your mom that we made her a grandmother before she turned 40. She already hated me before for corrupting you."

"All corruption was completely voluntary." He said with a little laugh

"Because you want to tell everybody yet thanksgiving were also going to be breaking the news to both of your grandmother's, three aunts, four uncles, and a serious amount of Cousins. This is going to be the most psychotic Thanksgiving of all time." Kim said with a sigh. He could tell she was stressed. A part of him wishes he could be with her to take everything away.

"You forgot about Sharpay who probably is going to kill us when she finds out that we lied to her for three years."

"I figure if we tell her when Chad is holding her hand and Alex is with us, we will get out of there with a slight maiming. If things get really bad, we can always tell Sharpay how you're now ex Girlfriend posted the almost sex tape on the Internet. Sharpay will be so distracted with visions of Gabriella's murder that will be able to get away completely unscathed."

* * *

November 7, 2008 7:25 PM eastern standard time

When Ryan Evans left for Juilliard in August, he was worried about his sister being alone at A of U. Let us be honest, his parents were too self absorbed to think about their children. Darby was too busy being Darby. At least their father did try to be there; unfortunately, he was usually away on business 90% of their lives.

He could have asked his friend Chad directly to look after Sharpay. That is what his then girlfriend suggested. However, Ryan was too worried that Chad would say no. In high school, everybody assumed that the two hated each other. Looking back at it now, that perceived hatred was unresolved sexual tension. If he realized that a few months ago, he would have never told his dad that Chad and Sharpay were dating just so he would put them in the same building. Thanks to his brilliant lie, his sister was now actually dating Chad.

These lies lead to his good friend Taylor having her heart broken into a million pieces. Taylor was the only person he could really talk to about the whole Kelsey thing. He felt horrible about his role in her heart being broken. He was hoping to make up for his part in this fiasco by treating Taylor to a shopping weekend in New York. Now he just needed Chad's help to keep his sister from coming.

"I agree with you. I think it is a good idea to invite Taylor to come see you in New York for Thanksgiving break. After what happened at the anniversary party, I don't think she wants to see her extended family any time soon. She needs all the friends she can get right now, especially after the best friend breakup with Gabriella. After the Kelsey breakup, I'm sure you could use another friend." Chad told his friend over the phone. A week ago, Kelsey finely told him that their relationship just wasn't going to work. She almost loved him as more than a friend. However, as Brandy said, "almost doesn't count". He did not tell Sharpay and Chad what happened until yesterday, because it was too painful.

"We are still friends, it's just complicated. Things are probably more complicated between you and Taylor. I just feel so guilty about the entire thing. I had no ideal this would happen. I just wanted to make sure Sharpay was safe. I figure you would just tell my dad the truth, not actually start dating or producing the almost sex tapes. Did I thank you and Sharpay for the fact I watched my sister try to sleep with you. That video is the most popular clip in my building. I'm a celebrity for being the brother of 'fantasy girl'." He was sure Chad could hear the sarcasm dripping off his voice. "If I ever find out who posted that tape I'm going to kill them."

"At least there's not T-shirts about the incident at your school." He heard Chad say with a sigh. "You shouldn't feel guilty about what happened between me, Taylor, and Sharpay. Sharpay and I were going to get together eventually no matter what. Contrary to what everybody assumes, Taylor and I didn't just break up because of Sharpay. The relationship had more substantial problems."

"Falling in love with someone else is probably the only reason that counts." Ryan said with a hint of bitterness. "That's why I need your help in telling Sharpay not to come to New York for Thanksgiving."

"She is your sister. You tell her."

"She's your girlfriend now because you broke Taylor's heart. Therefore, you should tell Sharpay. You know how upset Sharpay gets about everything. Maybe you could teller after the show tonight. She is always tense on opening night. Remember last year, everybody was too terrified to tell her that Troy was not coming on time." He remembered the car ride home very well; his sister was halfway in tears and screaming about losing her chance at Juilliard because of Troy's stupid stunt. Ryan was sure Sharpay was no longer upset about that because she now had Chad.

"Things aren't as bad as last year. The production is moving more smoothly now that Ms. Darbus replaced Tiara with Anita and demoted Tiara to the cheerleader chorus. However, that means Donny is now doing the interlude. "

"I'm sure Tiara isn't very happy with that." Ryan couldn't believe they were all taken in by Tiara's sickeningly sweet persona last year.

"At least your sister was a good sport with Gabriella. Tara is just been an absolute bitch about the whole thing. She has been sabotaging scenes in the rehearsals and throwing onset tantrums. As for Thanksgiving Sharpay, mentioned something about wishing she could stay here with me. She just wasn't sure how to tell you and your father because he had something special planned this year." Ryan couldn't help but laugh at that.

"My dad always has something big planned every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Unfortunately, it always falls apart. Every year without fail, mom will always go on a last minute shopping trip overseas and dad will always be called away on business. Sharpay and I usually end up eating our gourmet Turkey dinner alone. In a couple of days, we'll have this great gift waiting for us. This year when they forgot about our graduation party, we received brand new cars. Last year, when they didn't show up for the fall musical, we got a week at a spa for winter break. For forgetting about thanksgiving last year we received the black card for cyber Monday. The presents do not make up for the parental neglect."

"I'm sorry." He knew Chad was genuinely sorry. However, Ryan really didn't need pity.

"You don't have to be. At least this year Sharpay and I can have a Thanksgiving that we actually want to have without the family drama. You can probably tell dad about your Thanksgiving plans after the show tonight. He and mom are scheduled to come watch Sharpay's directorial debut."

"Thank you for warning me." Chad said sarcastically. "Although could you have told me earlier when I had time to choose a different outfit."

"You've been with my sister for too long. Considering my parents track record, they probably won't be there. Out of all the shows we performed in during high school, they only made it to the last one. Tell Sharpay break a leg and I really want to see the DVD of the show as soon as possible."

"I will tell her in few a minutes when I get to the school. I am currently waiting in line to get her coffee and a pre shows snack."

"Now I know it's love. I won't even get her coffee." Both guys laughed that that

* * *

"**What do you mean you're not coming?**" Kim yelled into her phone as she waited in the Bolton driveway for Jack to finish loading the car. Mrs. Bolton was apparently working late again and wouldn't be seen her husband off to his 'teacher conference'.

"I'm sorry can but I'm currently throwing up in the bathroom. It's probably the flu. I thought because I could be contagious that it would be best if your father went with you."

"No way. It's going to be hard enough with Troy meeting Alex for the first time. Now the entire time dad is going to be threatening to kill him. 5 minutes into the whole thing he's going to try to cut off Troy's parts for getting me pregnant." Her father still had not made peace with the whole Alex situation.

"I seriously doubt he's going to do that."

"I know you guys have been married for a few years. However, I've known him my entire life. He still hates me for bringing disgrace to the family name and Troy for helping me in that disgrace." Kim said in a bitter voice

"Your father loves you."

"Sometimes I doubt that."

"Kim your father does love you."

"Then why has he not forgiven me?" Kim asked in a whisper. "Vanessa, I need to warn Troy that my father is coming to kill him. If Alex becomes an orphan, it will be all your _fault_." Kim yelled sarcastically as she shut her phone.

Kim decided to quickly call Troy to warn him. Unfortunately the call went straight to voicemail. He was probably already on the plane.

"Hey Troy you will probably not get this voice mail until you land in Vegas. Any way it turned out my dad is coming instead of Vanessa. I would like to apologize right now in case things really do go to hell this weekend or you end up in a body bag. Love you."

"As you and my son point out all the time you're not dating again, But you tell my son you love him." Jack's comments completely cut her off guard and she gave him that dear in headlights look. She would say that she and Troy were just friends if she didn't hear that lie enough during the Chad Sharpay denial phase. She and Troy would never be just friends.

"You know I love him. My relationship with Troy is on the complicated side right now." Kim said hoping Jack would leave her alone.

"Yes your relationship is very complicated." Jack said sarcastically." Since you two started talking to each other again, Troy's cell phone bill has double. Troy broke up with his girlfriend of the year and ½ without telling anybody the real reason. A girlfriend that he moved 1000 miles away for. I know my son well enough not to buy his' I need space' excuse. Plus there were those inappropriate text messages he sent you while he was still dating Gabriella."

"You're never going to let that go are you?" Kim said with a slight blush.

"Not until Alex is in kindergarten."

"Troy and I have to make decisions on custody arrangements, what schools were going to attend, and try to figure out what state we are going to be living in. We don't have time to figure out our relationship."

"I'd just like to know what's going on between you and my son."

"As soon as we figure it out, I promised one of us will tell you." Kim said in a whisper.

"Like you did last time," Jack muttered under his breath. "Do you mind if we stop at the pharmacy." Jack said when the CVS came into view

"No, we are currently running ahead. You can run in and get anything you need."

"I think you're the one who needs to run in. I love my grandson, but I don't want another grandchild until both you and Troy have graduated college." Her mouth was on the ground in shock. She was definitely not expecting that statement.

"Nothing's going to happen--were just--I'm not sure."

"I don't trust you and my son to be in the same state without your hormones taking over your better judgment." He gave her that don't lie to me parent look that scared her half to death. She really needed to learn that look before Alex was a teenager.

"Fine I will run in the store." Kim says as she pulled into the pharmacy parking lot, "Even though I won't be using them at all this weekend and will probably be giving them to Sharpay. I'm sure they'll make use of those things." Kim said in annoyance as she got out of the car.

**

* * *

**

The present

"Troy's father made you buy condoms?" Chad was laughing hysterically.

"It's not that funny," Kim said in annoyance.

"Considering all your little presents to me and Sharpay, yes it is. So will Sharpay and I be getting the surplus or did something actually happen this weekend?" Chad asked as he tried to stop laughing.

"How did the play go last night?" Kim asked quickly changing the subject completely.

"It looks like somebody is taking my award for most blatant subject change."

November 7, 2008 6:09 PM backstage East High auditorium

The backstage area was complete madness. The curtain would be going up in less than an hour. Everyone was rushing around trying to get the sets and costumes together. Ms. Darbus appeared to be calm, but Sharpay felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She was worried about getting a good grade on this project. She was afraid everything would go wrong, such as Anita forgetting her lines or Tiara sabotaging everything. Sharpay was just waiting to see what Tiara would do during the actual show tonight.

In addition, there overly sensitive principle just made them completely change a scene in the play less than 30 minutes ago. Kerri and Nicholas were going through their new lines in the back. She hoped that they would actually remember them. She was currently calming down Jason McKessie, who is very angry about their play being butchered in the name of censorship.

"I can't believe he's acting like this. He is destroying this play. The scene he made us rewrite was not even that bad. I have seen worse language on the Disney channel. He still won't let us have a kissing scene. How can we have a love story without a kissing scene?"

"Jason I know you're upset, but you need to calm down. Look on the bright side; at least he didn't completely shut down the production of the play like two years ago." As she was talking to Jason, she fell two arms wrap around her and her favorite lips descend upon her neck.

"How's my favorite director doing?" Chad asked as he continued to hold her.

"Only slightly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Now that you're here, I'm starting to feel less stressed." Sharpay said as she reached over to kiss him. She was so wrapped up in Chad's kisses and the way his touch made everything melt away, she did not pay attention to the conversation between Jason and Ms. Darbus.

"That's so unfair, they can make out on school property and we cannot even have a stage kiss." Jason said in a whiny voice.

"The rule the principle is using to keep us from having any kissing scenes in the play applied only to students. This production will run more smoothly if Miss Evans is actually calm." Ms. Darbus said quietly to Jason. If Chad's hand wasn't moving to a place on her body that he probably shouldn't be touching in front of a 12 year old, she probably would have notice the wicked smirk on Jason McKessie face.

Kim sat in the first class lounge mentally preparing for her father to criticize every single one of her life choices once he arrived. She watched Jack play with Alex. She felt guilty that Alex meted his grandfather before his dad. More and more lately, she felt like she made the wrong decision in not telling Troy. She was so afraid that Troy and his family would treat her exactly like her family. It turned out her fears were completely unfounded and now she felt like a horrible person for keeping Troy from Alex.

"I'm sure my dad will be here any moment." Kim said in a slightly panicky voice.

"You don't seem happy. If I remember correctly, he was the sane parent."

"Compare to my mom, almost everyone is relatively sane. My dad didn't exactly have the best reaction to the pregnancy. He wasn't deliberately trying to get me to get rid of Alex, but he wasn't exactly supportive either. He just made everything worse. He is always talking about how I was such a disgrace to the family name. I am almost positive he hates me." she was starting to tear up.

"I'm positive your father doesn't hate you. I don't hate you and Troy for what happened. I know the pregnancy was unplanned if not unwanted. I'm actually proud of both of you for handling the situation instead of running away."

"You're rational, he's not. I am just scared. Things are going to be tough enough this weekend without him being here. Now I have this odd feeling I'm going to be pulling him off Troy at least twice this weekend. Then there will be choruses of 'you got my baby girl pregnant 'alternating with 'how could you be so stupid to get pregnant at 18 by a 15 year old'." Kim finished as her father walked in.

In true Jay Kim fashion, the first thing he says to her was an insult on her parenting abilities. "Are you sure that jacket is warm enough? I wouldn't want my grandchild to get sick." He used that condescending voice that made her feel like a two year old who couldn't do anything. She could see Jack's shocked expression. She knew she should have prepared him better for this.

"Its 60 outside and sunny, he'll be fine. No matter what I do, it probably won't be enough, sense in your mind I am to irresponsible to take care of my own child."

"I didn't say that Kimberly."

"Jack will you please watch Alex, I think I need a cappuccino. Do you want anything?" Kim walked off before her father could say anything else to her or see her cry.

* * *

When Amanda walked into East High, she was shocked at how beautiful it was. She could tell instantly that East High was in a completely different class of funding from her old high school. Everything at the school was shiny and new, from the textbooks to brand new computers. This place was definitely not like the dirty and broken high school she went to. She was somewhat jealous of Chad and Sharpay for going to such a great school that actually had decent equipment.

"I see somebody went to high school in the land of the rich and spoil." Marc said as soon as they found Chad outside the auditorium.

"We are only mildly spoiled. Besides this is still a public school." Chad said in response.

"A public school that has computer labs and has a library that is more up to date than several universities." Amanda said to Chad.

"Aren't you supposed to be attached to Sharpay at the lips right now?" Nikki asked in her usual way.

"The principle kicked me out of the backstage area. We were apparently corrupting the little children." Chad said sarcastically.

"You principle has issues. Let's just go find our seats," Amanda said as they walked into the auditorium. Before they made it to their seats Chad was engaging in a "guy hug" with some shaggy hair boy that she never saw before. She assumed it was some friend from high school.

"What are you doing here Jason?" Chad said to this person that they didn't know.

"My cousin is one of the leads in the play and I came to support him. How are you doing I haven't seen you in forever. Out of the entire group, I think you are the only one who stayed in Albuquerque besides me. I'm going to community college because of my GPA in high school." From the way he made it sound Sharpay, must not have been considered one of their group back then.

"I've kind of been busy." Chad said as an excuse.

"With your girlfriend in your bedroom." Marc said snidely under his breath.

"I thought Taylor was at Yale?" Jason asked in confusion, apparently hearing Marc's comment. This quickly earned him a slap from Nikki.

"For the moment, but she is transferring as soon as she can. It just wasn't the right fit. Taylor and I broke up last month. I'm here because my new girlfriend is directing the play."

"Nicholas said that a student from A of U was directing the play, but he wouldn't tell me who. He said he wanted it to be a surprise." Amanda could see Chad visibly let go of a breath.

"Hey Jason these are some of my friends from college. This is my girlfriend's roommate Amanda and her partners in crime Nikki and Marc. This is Jason Cross one of my teammates from high school." After noticing that Chad specifically didn't use Sharpay's name she decided to drag him off for a private little chat before the play started. The safest place to have this conversation seemed to be the guest parking lot right outside the auditorium.

"So why exactly did you not tell him that you are dating Sharpay?"

"I told him I had a different girlfriend."

"You didn't say her name. Although I'm surprise he doesn't already know that you're dating Sharpay. You have the most popular almost sex tape in Albuquerque. He must be the only person in Bernalillo County that hasn't seen that tape."

"I know, we were approached by a grandmother and her granddaughter about the clip yesterday at the mall. Sharpay wasn't exactly the most popular girl in school. She is like a Geo, tough on the outside, pretty and shiny on the inside. Not a lot of people back then took the time to look beyond that tough exterior, including myself. Most people either hated her or used her. My friends in high school said a lot of mean things to her. She was always pushing everyone away. Until I got here, I didn't know why. I just don't want to have to justify why I love her to somebody who I may or may not see again till the 5 year reunion."

"So you will explain everything when you show up as Mr. Chad Danforth-Evans?"

"I don't know if I want a hyphenated name. I think I prefer Chad Evans."

"That's what Jack White did. He even kept the name after the divorce."

"Speaking of the Evans, it looks like Ryan's prediction of them not showing up to support Sharpay has fallen through." Chad said noticing Darby step out of her town car. They both noticed Mrs. Evans kissing a man that definitely did not match the picture Sharpay had on her computer. The dark haired man couldn't be more than 25.

"That's not Mr. Evans is it?" Amanda asked quietly.

"No it's not," Chad said as he pulled out his phone to capture the incident.

Halfway through Chad story Troy decided it was best to let Chad know that he was listening with Kim. "Did you tell Sharpay?" Troy asked his friend in complete shock. He couldn't believe Darby Evans was cheating on her husband. She just seemed like a nice person when he met her a few summers ago. But then again he used to think Gabriella was a nice person.

"Not at that moment. You do not want to mess with a pre show Sharpay. The woman is absolutely scary. I love her, but I can't deal with her when she is like that."

"Trust me I remember, I was vice president of the drama club with her for two years. It's probably best to avoid telling her anything upsetting, until she is less likely to kill people. I'm sure nobody wants a hot cappuccino throne on them? You did tell her later?" Kim said as she reached over to Troy side of the bed and grabbed the phone back.

"Let me finish the story, if I skip around it just won't make any sense."

* * *

October 7, 2008 6:59 PM

In the final moments, before the curtain went up Sharpay watched the crowd. When she saw Chad and all her friends sitting in the front row, she breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly mouth the words 'I love you' to Chad. She wished he could stay back stage with her.

Unfortunately, a couple rolls back from Chad, was the one person she didn't want here. She couldn't believe her mom actually brought her boy toy Jose with her. Jose sister who he had custody of, was playing the role of the new girl in the interludes. Sharpay was almost positive that Darby was here to see Carmen perform not her own daughter direct. Darby was only happy when Sharpay was number one. However, no matter how hard she tried she could never be good enough.

Even though she really wanted her father there, she hoped he couldn't make it. She didn't want him to be humiliated by Darby any more than necessary. Sometimes she wished they would just sign the papers and get this farce of a relationship over with. Her heart started to calm down a bit when Donny and Carmen made their way to the stage.

"I see you're new here at east high. You'll find out quickly that there are a lot of interesting legends at this school." Said Donny as the wise upperclassmen to Carmen's new student.

"You mean other than the entire school bursting into song at a basketball game." Carmen's character said sarcastically. "Or were you referring to the incident at the spring dance two years ago that triggered the principle to become obsessed with censorship. I heard he tried to get the _Scarlet Letter_ removed from the AP English curriculum." Sharpay made a point to look at the principle during this scene. They may have forgotten to remind him that they were using one of the elements from the original play involving a interlude. They just forgot to include this in the script that they gave him to review. Judging by his angry body language, they would probably all be in serious trouble Monday. She really didn't care, they were going to get back at him for taking away their artistic freedom.

"Yes unfortunately it's all true. Due to this overzealous censorship we cannot use any bad language nor had anything of a sexual nature in the entire play." Donny's character said this as he pointed directly at the principle.

"That's sad."

"However that tragic tale is not tonight story. Once upon a time at East High, not as far back as one might think there was a girl who went to school here who was an absolute bi – wait, I can't say that word here. Let us just call her a drama queen instead. She was legendary for her temper and her mood swings. Catalina was extremely strong willed and kept everyone at arm's length. Her aggressive behavior made her really unpopular. However, this girl also had a brother who was a god of high school. Mr. Basketball star himself. Every girl at East High wanted to be with him. Unfortunately, he couldn't date until his sister did"

"So what happen?"

"I'm not telling you. You're just going to have to sit back and watch the play."

At that moment, the curtain opens behind Donny and Carmen to uncover a classroom that looks like a replica of Ms. Darbus's room. Unfortunately, during the first 5 minutes of the first scene Tiara screwed up the lines of three of her cast members and threw a piece of furniture in someone's way. This was definitely going to be a very long show.

The short flight to Las Vegas seemed to last forever. Kim was currently avoiding her father while she colored with Alex. The man had yelled at her eight times since he arrived less than an hour ago. Jack was shocked that she didn't start crying. When he started on the ninth round 'of I can't believe you got pregnant at 18' Jack decided to intervene.

"I don't know why you're blaming her for everything, my son was there to?"

"I am waiting to we get to Las Vegas to talk to your son about knocking up my 18 year old daughter at 15."

"Why you did keep doing this, there's no point. What's done, is done. They both feel bad for what happen, but now they need to concentrate on taking care of their kid. You placing the metaphorical scarlet letter on their chest is not helping. Just get over it." He probably would be freaking out just as much as Mr. Kim, if he didn't watch what his friend Carolina when her father pretty much forced her to marry someone she didn't really know when she got pregnant. He has been making a lot of calls to DC since he found out about his early grandfather hood.

"Why Are You Taking Her Side? She's The One Who Kept You Away From Your Grandchild For Two Years." Mr. Kim shouted at him.

"She Was A Scared 18 Year Old. Who Instead Of Getting Support From Her Parents, Was Humiliated And Pretty Much Told To Get Rid Of Her Child If She Ever Wanted Their Love or Support Again. Instead Of Giving In To Their Demands, She Took Care Of Her Child On Her Own For A Year And ½. Until Your Wife Who Treats Her More Like Her Child's Then You Ever Had, Managed To Have Her Trust Fund Restored. Because Of You And Your Evil Ex Wife, Kim Was Too Afraid to Tell Anyone Else About Alex. I Don't Blame Her. **I Blame The Adults In This Situation For Not Telling Me What Was Happening**." This argument between him and Mr. Kim went on until they landed in Vegas.

His favorite moment when he pointed out how hypocritical Mr. Kim was when he admitted that he did sleep with Vanessa before they got married. Yet, he was furious for Kim doing the same thing with Troy. No wonder Kim didn't want her father to come. This was going to be a very long weekend. He already wanted to punch out Mr. Kim after less than 2 hours in his company.

* * *

"Was it really like this at your high school?" Amanda asked Chad during the four act of the play. Catalina just found out that Pedro was only dating her to become basketball captain next year. Jackie was doing an excellent job with Catalina's emotional breakdown.

"Pretty much, except Sharpay decided not to explore the whole social apartheid system that controlled East High until recently."

"I think every high school has that to some degree, although most schools don't call it apartheid."

"Most schools don't have De Facto social segregation that rivals the racial segregation of the south during the era of Jim Crow."

"Are you Sharpay's Pedro?" Chad was not expecting her to ask that question. "It's obvious that Catalina is modeled after Sharpay more than Shakespeare's Katherine."

"How did you get that? I thought I was the only other person that saw it."

"it's easy to notice things when you live with someone for a few months. Are you going to tell her about what we saw earlier?" Amanda asked changing the subject.

"After the show." As Chad whispered this to Amanda, he felt his phone vibrating. He felt like Ms. Darbus was going to come down from backstage and get him for having his cell phone on during her performance. Although she couldn't be mad at him because the message came from her. The phone fell out of his hand before he could see the message telling him to go calm down his girlfriend. Apparently, the British ones sabotage was takeing a toll on Sharpay. He also knew Sharpay looking like a lost little girl every time she peeked her head from behind the curtain to see if her father was there. He didn't want to tell her about what he saw in the parking lot earlier, however he knew he had to.

"I knew you would forget to turn off your cell phone," Ms. Darbus said only slightly upset.

"You're actually saying that like it's a good thing." Then he saw Sharpay 30 seconds from punching out Tiara. He quickly grabbed Sharpay and dragged her away.

"Come on Chad let me kick her ass. You know the bitch deserves it." Sharpay said under her breath. "If you let me beat her up I promise to play strip basketball with you tomorrow."

"If I let you do that you'll get an incomplete for this course."

"I would suggest you take your girlfriend to one of the dressing rooms to calm her down. However, I don't want a repeat of the garden incident."

"Why don't you go backstage? The rest of the play takes place in front of the curtain or in the aisle ways of the theater." Young Jason said to the couple.

A few moments later, they both sat down on top of the large teachers desk.

"Okay now why exactly do you want to make Tiara black and blue?"

"Because she's a power hungry bitch that is trying to destroy this play, because she didn't get her way. This is my punishment for all the things I've pulled in high school." Sharpay said in anger.

"You're sure there is not another reason?" Chad said looking her straight in the eye.

"Like I need a better reason than that," She said with a little laugh that was obviously forced.

"So it doesn't have anything to do with your dad not being here? Because as someone who has a father that has called him a grand total of two times in three months I can understand." The truth of the matter was chad's father was much more of an absentee parent either Evans parent. His mom did a better job of staying connected even after she moved to DC last winter.

"Trust me, I'm glad daddy had a last minute business meeting. Mommy decided to bring Jose with her," by the way she said the man's name he was almost positive that in news if of the scene he witnessed in the parking lot would not shock Sharpay.

"Who's Jose?" he asked grabbed her hand.

"Mommy's special friend, like me and you are special friends before you broke up with Taylor." Every word she said this better and filled with pain.

"Why am I just hearing about this now?"

"Do you remember when you were moving into the dorms and I told you that my parents would probably be divorced if they lived in the same city? I wasn't joking. I found out a couple of months ago about Jose. I'm not even sure if there really together. It's not like I ever saw them making out in the mansion. They just seem a little too close. Darby is Darby and shall never change. She's only cares about herself. You're the only person I told about my suspicions. Not even daddy or Ryan know about it. Considering how bad things are between mom and dad, maybe he does know." Sharpay said leaning into Chad.

"You know you can tell me anything. I'll always be here for you." Chad said kissing her on the forehead before pulling out his cell phone. He knew he needed to show her now even though he didn't want to.

"I know,"

"Unfortunately, I have the evidence to prove your suspicion." Chad said passing her the phone. He was expecting her to scream or cry. She did nothing and that scared him the most. She switched into pure ice queen Sharpay mode and that terrified him. It was her coping mechanism for when things got too much for her.

"Sharpay say something."

"What am I supposed to say Chad? Hallmark doesn't make cards for when you find out your mom is screwing someone else that's young enough to be your older brother. What do you do when you realize your entire life is a complete lie?"She was starting to cry. That was a good sign.

"It's okay to be upset." Chad said wiping away her tears. "It's okay to be mad at her. I am mad at her."

"This is such a mess." At this point Sharpay was so close to him that she was sitting on his lap.

"It will be okay," Chad said holding her tightly.

"We are going to have to tell dad." Sharpay said with a painful sigh.

"We can tell him at the same time we tell him that you're going to spend thanksgiving with me hopping from party to party as I try to please both my parents. It will help you prepare for next year. Although now your dad has another reason to hate me. This is worse than when he saw us practically screwing each other in the water fountain.

"Don't worry will get through all this together," Sharpay said mockingly as she went in for one of her earth shattering kisses. It was one of her award winning 'I wish she would let me take off her outfit' kisses complete with tongue and semi inappropriate roaming hands. As his head made contact with the desk he remembered having a fantasy about doing this with her some time during senior year.

* * *

Kim was going to kill both of them, she just knew it. If it wasn't for her iPod and coloring with Alex she would be being escorted off the plane by the air marshals. She was surprised that the air marshals didn't separate Jack and her dad once or twice. Actually, she was surprised that it didn't get physical. She was currently walking behind them with Alex by her side. The two were still yelling at each other. After a few seconds, she felt Alex let go of her hand. She was afraid he was going to run away again and she didn't want chase after him in a crowded Airport.

Fortunately, he ran right into the arms of his dad. Troy looked the same, yet completely different. Gone were the last bits of baby fat, in its place was this finely crafted athlete with hard lines and muscles. He still had the same smile and the same eyes that she loved so much. She was completely torn on what to do. Part of her wanted to run over and kiss him. The other half wanted to drag him into the nearest restroom and make good use of her force purchase earlier today. Instead, she just pulled out her camera and started filming. She knew neither option was practical. When it came to Troy Bolton, she never made rational decisions.

Due to his flight being undersold, he ended up having to take a later flight and barely made it to Kim's gate before she got there. The first thing he noticed was his father and Mr. Kim arguing as they were walking off the plane. He was positive they were so caught up in their argument that they didn't even see him. He received Kim's voicemail in time to prepare himself for dealing with a man that probably hated him. When Mr. Kim gave him an icy glare, he knew they finally saw him.

He himself was only concerned with Alex and Kim. Even when she first sent him the video file, he didn't quite think this was all real. However, when he saw that little being who was a mixture of him and Kim he realized how truly happy he was to have his son. Alex knew instantly who he was. When he held his son for the first time, he felt a completely indescribable feeling. He knew he was crying, but he really didn't care.

He knew Kim was waiting patiently on the side filming everything with her infamous camera. Knowing her she was trying to give him space to process everything. When he looked over at her a few minutes later, he could see the tears falling from her eyes. With Alex in his arms, he quickly walked over to her.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he pushed her hair out of her eyes as he always did.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you. I was just so scared." Kim said as her tiers began to fall harder. Even though he didn't want to let go of Alex ever. He handed him over to his father so he could take care of Kim, who was a crying mess at this point.

"It's okay." He said wrapping his arms around her.

"No it's not. You lost two years without him because I was so stupid." When his father will ask him what he was thinking when he decided to kiss his ex girlfriend, he would have no answer. It was just something that he needed to do. When Kim's lips came together with his, he did get the answer for why he and Gabriella never made it past second base.

* * *

The Present

"It looks like someone had fun recreating the Airport scene from _Love Actually_. Seriously, you are just figuring out why you couldn't go all the way with the evil bitch of Stanford." Chad said to his best friend.

"Where's your girlfriend? She needs to throw a pillow at you."

"I think she's still in the shower."

"By the way what did Ms. Darbus do to you for doing inappropriate things on her stage?" Kim asked in hopes of ending the other conversation.

"Actually nothing,"

"That's not possible. I'm still trying to repress the punishment for the garden incident." Troy said with a shiver.

"Let's just say I received our punishment in a different form. Apparently you and Kim were not the only ones who recreated a scene from _love actually_"

* * *

November 7, 2008 8:56 PM

Ms. Darbus was patiently watching the final scenes of the play. The idea to stage the last few parts of the play in the audience was brilliant. It worked really well. As she watched this final scene, she felt something was missing between Pedro and Catalina. She didn't know why it was perfectly acceptable for students to hit each other in sports, yet she couldn't have one chaste stage kiss in her play. She was positive that the principle was taking the censorship stuff too far. The theater should be a place of free expression.

"How do I know what you're saying is true? Pedro and Catalina did not even kiss." Carmen said to Donny.

"More like couldn't. I told you about the censorship at this school." Donny said with a sigh.

"I still want to see proof." Ms. Darbus didn't remember that line in the rehearsals.

"So maybe what you saw wasn't a complete true story."

"I knew it wasn't true."

"I didn't say that. Parts of the play were based in reality. The girl's name was not Catalina. However she was a real student at East High. The names were change to protect the guilty. The real Catalina was completely afraid to let anyone because like Catalina she was hurt before. One day she met her Pedro who just happened to be already basketball captain. Contributing factors include a scheming brother and a evil cheerleader. Her Pedro gave her the strength to let people in. His love for her definitely made her a better person as well as her love for him." He was going completely off script but it added something to the show. So she let him continue.

"It's a really pretty story, but that doesn't mean it's true." The girl said skeptically.

"If you don't believe me, look behind the curtain. At that moment, the curtain was pulled back revealing Sharpay and Chad on top of the teacher's desk as they engaged in a very passionate kiss. If it were anybody else on stage, she probably would be panicking. Instead, she watched the reactions of those in the theater.

Principle Matsui was currently hyperventilating in the front row. She felt it was what he deserved for taking away their creative freedom. In the second row, Jason Cross was apparently slumped over in his seat unconscious. In the back Mr. Evans, who finally showed up to the presentation just in time to see his daughter being fondled by her boyfriend, was actually smiling. His reaction may have something to do with Mrs. Evans screaming in the back row. The audience had no idea that this was not part of the script. Despite the clapping, Chad and Sharpay kept kissing. After a few minutes, the curtain was lowered.

"I told you it was true. That is why I believe in true love. If those two can find love, then it is possible for anyone. That is the true lesson of tonight's play."

As the rest the cast stepped in front of the curtain, Ms. Darbus made her way back to the oblivious couple. Even though there probably going to end up with the principle, watching every rehearsal this spring, the ending was worth it.

* * *

Present November 8, 2008

"So that explains why Jason Cross text messaged me about your lack of sanity last night. You had no idea that the entire auditorium saw your make out session with Sharpay?" Troy asked Chad in shock.

"Not until Ms. Darbus pulled us apart. We violated her policy about doing anything on school property. Let's just say, even though I am no longer a student at East High She is already coming up with creative ways to punish me. Or she would if Taylor's brother Jason didn't take the blame for the entire fiasco."

"I definitely want to know how this happened." Kim said from behind him on the bed.

"Jason was upset that the principle wouldn't allow him to do the play the way he and Sharpay wanted to. He told the principle the entire stunt was a way to get back at me for breaking up with his sister." Chad said this with a laugh.

"I thought he was on your side during the break up?" Troy asked in confusion

"I know that. You know that. The principle does not. Because Jason McKessie is 12 and had a good reason for his little stunt, he is only going to get a week's worth of detention. While Sharpay and I got off without punishment because we were setup. Technically because wear not students, it was okay for us to kiss during the play. There was a technicality in the principal's policy that Jason decided to exploit. That boy is scary smart."

"You should be glad he is on your side. I hate to see what he would do to you if he didn't like you." Troy told Chad.

"So how did things go with the dads after making out at the Airport?

"You're not going to let that go?" Kim asked Chad.

"I still want to know if you used Kim's CVS purchase."

"I'm not telling you. After we left the Airport, our dads manage to get in a fight in the hotel lobby, the hotel elevator, and a fight at the restaurant so severe that got us kicked out. At that point we ditched them for parental bonding with our own child." Troy told his friend.

"Troy, did you and Kim actually do any bonding with your son or did you just make out the entire time?"

"Not funny. What did Mr. Evans say to you when he saw you fondling his daughter on stage?"

"He was actually okay with it and assumed it was part of the play. Not that I could look the man in the eye. I think it would have been easier if he yelled at me. Nothing is more uncomfortable than having cell phone footage of his wife fooling around with someone, as you tried to make small talk with the person. On a lighter note, he felt it was Sharpay's best performance ever, even if it only lasted about a minute."

"That must have been a wonderful boost to her ego." Troy said sarcastically.

"The production was considered the best in East High history, even better than last year senior year production. Everyone loved the "surprise" ending. This means she's most likely going to get an A for her time at EHS. The fact that she got to be in the play in any way it was just a bonus for her. Darby was the one who completely threw a fit. I cannot repeat the things she said to me because Alex could be listening. In a few hours I'm going to have brunch with Mr. Evans and Darby knowing that Darby hates me and is screwing around on her husband. Therefore, I win for most complicated weekend.

"I want to hear everything Darby said. I doubt Alex will over hear us, he sleeping in the other room. We would still be asleep if you didn't wake us up." Kim said in annoyance.

"I'm sorry I… You're sleeping in the same bed?" Chad asked in surprise. Troy was almost positive that Chad finely piece together what he and Kim did last night or rather early this morning.

"You and Sharpay sleep in the same bed all the time and are not having sex." Kim pointed out quickly.

"I didn't mention sex, you did. You had sex last night!" Chad said with a scream as he finally got it.

"I think I here Alex crying. Got to go." Kim said as she ends the call.

"You do realize he's going to be a lot more suspicious now?" Troy said as he played with the sheet covering Kim's body.

"I don't care," Kim said just before her lips descended on his.

* * *

Eavesdropping on other people's conversations has always been Sharpay's favorite thing to do when she was bored or stressed. She was definitely stressed now, thinking about how to tell her dad about what Chad saw last night. At first, she thought Chad was talking to Kim, but then he heard him say Troy's name a lot. For a while, she just assumed he was using conference calling. However, when she heard Chad talking about the two kissing at the Airport she got really confused. However, the moment of clarity came a few minutes later with one very simple line. "Troy did you and Kim actually do any bonding with your son or did you just make out the entire time?"

At that moment, a million different things started to make sense. She now knew why Chad helped Kim so much with Alex. She now knew why Kim knew so much about Troy. Most importantly, she knew why Alex had Troy's eyes. As she heard Chad yelling because Troy and Kim hang up on him, she decided to walk into the room. She slowly walked over to her boyfriend only wearing an oversized towel.

"So exactly how long have you known that my so-called best friend is **fucking** Troy Bolton and had his kid?"

To be continued

A/N: This is a question to all those reading this story. Would anybody like to see more of what is going on with the other wildcats at their schools while Chad and Sharpay are groping each other? I'm thinking of doing a companion piece call _Other Scenes from Freshman Year_. The story would contain things like Taylor helping Ryan get over his breakup with Kelsey, Gabriella scheming at Stanford, and Troy's at Berkeley. It would be made of sporadic one shots that take place in the scenes from freshman year universe.


	17. Lessons on Letting Go

Chapter 17: Lessons on Letting Go

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

After much consideration, I have decided that I need to raise the rating up to M. I probably should have raised the rating in chapter nine, but didn't. This story so far has covered serious subject matter like sexual assault and contained dirty jokes about pretending to have sex in dressing rooms among other things. Also as Chad and Sharpay's relationship progress, the story will have more sexual content. (We also have Kim and Troy, who apparently can't be in the same state without jumping each other.)

Disclaimer: I don't own HSM. If I did, it probably wouldn't be appropriate for the Disney channel.

Warning: child abuse, strong language, mentions of sexual assault, and some serious sexual content.

July 13, 1995

Five-year-old Sharpay sat in the rehearsal room trying not to cry. Her mommy just finished screaming at her again because she wasn't perfect yet, despite all the money on choreographers and voice coaches. The annual talent show was in two days and Sharpay screwed up again. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get the choreography right. When Darby came to watch the rehearsals earlier this afternoon, Ryan was perfect and Sharpay missed two steps during the second verse and forgot a word. Ryan got to go to played and Sharpay suffer the wrath of Darby

Even at five Sharpay Evans already knew that her mother cared more about looking good than her own child. Darby was sickeningly sweet to Sharpay in public. Dressing her in the finest clothing and giving her the best things. Darby would never yell at her in public. She only hit in places where the bruises wouldn't show. This time it was her stomach, the very first time a few weeks ago was her legs.

Sharpay knew not to cry. It would be worse if she cried. It didn't matter, the rehearsal room was soundproof. Sharpay already knew not to tell daddy. Darby told her that her daddy would never believe a whiny little girl over his wife. If she did say anything to anyone else, Ryan would become her mother's latest victim. Sharpay knew she had to protect Ryan.

When she heard the door cracked open she swore it was Darby coming back to hurt her again. Instead, it was Kimberly Kim. She was another country club child like Sharpay who was dressed in the latest styles. Her eyes seemed sad just like Sharpay's.

"Are you okay?" The girl asked pointing to Sharpay's top. Apparently, Darby broke skin this time and blood was seeping through Sharpay's white top.

"I am okay, " Sharpay stammered out to the girl that Sharpay barely knew. Sharpay's painful moan told the truth.

"No you're not. Your Mrs. Evans daughter Sharpay, right? I will go and tell her that you are hurt." before the girl could leave the room Sharpay grabbed her.

"Please don't tell her." Sharpay said pleading with the slightly older girl

"It's okay, most moms make things better or so I've heard."

"Not if she's the one that caused it." Sharpay said softly

"Your mom hits you?"

"Please don't tell anybody?" Sharpay said as she started to sob.

"I won't," the girl sighed as she grabbed Sharpay his hand.

* * *

The present November 8, 2008 7:38 AM

"So exactly how long have you known that my so-called best friend is fucking Troy Bolton and had his kid?" That was the one question Chad did not want to hear from his girlfriend. The fact that Sharpay actually use the F word pretty much proved mad she was.

"How much of that conversation did you hear?" He asked her carefully.

"Enough to know that my best friend of 13 ½ years doesn't trust me enough to tell me about her relationship with Troy. She knows things that you don't know and yet she couldn't tell me about Alex's real father. Apparently, she had no problem telling you. You're her BFF now." Sharpay said screaming with tears running down her face. Screaming and crying were always good signs with Sharpay. If she was mad then she was processing emotions.

"Sharpay it wasn't like that." Chad said as he tried to grab her hand.

"She told you about Alex." Sharpay said in a half sob half scream as she pushed him away.

"Kim didn't tell me anything," Chad said keeping his voice as calm as possible.

"No, let me guess Troy told you about everything. Troy actually is your BFF. You probably knew from the beginning." Sharpay yelled at him as she threw a pillow.

"Sharpay you need to calm down."

"I will not calm down. You're supposed to love me." The way she said that made him want to cry. "You lied to me. My best friend lied to me about her son. You kept the whole thing a secret from me for who knows how many years. Then my mom is lying to my father by screwing someone else. She cannot let anybody see the true monster she really is. My life is nothing but an allusion builded on lies." she collapsed to the floor as she said that last phrase. Her tears were falling quickly.

She finally let him hold her. Her body felt like ice and she was shaking all over. This wasn't a normal crying session. This was the emotional equivalent of the dam breaking. This had to be more than Kim not telling her about Alex. This was 19 years of pain and frustration breaking through. Everything she kept hidden for so long is finally coming out.

"Baby it's okay just let go." He whispered to her as he rocked her body back and forth.

"Nothing's okay. Everything is a lie."

"Some things are always true." He said kissing her forehead.

"Name something." Sharpay said in a whisper as she continued to cry in his arms.

"I will always love you." Chad said as he kissed her on the forehead.

"Then why did you keep this from me?"

"I didn't know either until a few weeks ago. I had no idea that they were together for most of Troy's sophomore year. Considering how much time I spent with him, that was an amazing feat."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, it's supposed to make you hate me less. Is it working?"

"Maybe," she said with a half smile.

"I guessed Alex's paternity after Kim told me he was allergic to tomatoes. Troy has the same allergy. Troy didn't even know of the possibility of Alex until a few weeks ago and not from Kim.

"How did he find out then?"

"Actually it was you."

"I like to know how I did that, considering I just found out." Sharpay said in shock.

"You told him that Alex was Kim's son. He put the rest together himself. He didn't know officially until the day after we started dating."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Troy asked me not to tell you. It wasn't my secret to tell Sharpay. Just like I don't tell other people about Richard. It's too personal and private to share. They were going to tell you eventually, they just needed time to figure things out. If it makes you feel better, Troy did an even tell Gabriella about Alex."

"Not really. Unlike those two, I want a relationship where we tell each other everything." Sharpay said in a whisper as she tried to get up without losing her towel.

"You just said earlier that there's things about you that I don't Know yet. Is that because you are deliberately keeping stuff from me or because you're just not ready to tell me yet?" When she didn't answer he continued on. "You did not tell me about your suspicions involving Darby until last night."

"That's different."

"Or maybe you were not ready to tell me. That does not mean you love me any less."

"I need to get ready. I'm sure the car will be here Soon. There's no way I'm writing you l leave the house wearing that." Sharpay said pointing to his Tshirt he was currently sporting. The walls were back up again. He would let her get away with, but tonight they would deal with this once and for all.

"Your father said the brunch was casual."

"Casual with my family means no tie," Sharpay said as she walked into her closet and pulled out several suit jackets and dress pants, as well as, a golf outfit.

"I don't remember trying any of this stuff on," Chad said as she handed him the clothing.

"You didn't. Last time we were at the store, I had your measurements entered into the system. Now that you are dating a member of the country club set, you have to dress the part." Last month he gave up on trying to keep her from buying expensive gifts for him. In the Evans family they say I love you with visa.

"We are still dating even though you're mad at me?"

"I'm not Gabriella. I don't run away at the first sign of trouble. I am in this for the duration. I'm still mad at you though. This is why you're wearing the suit and tie that I'd pick out."

"Yes dear," Chad said sardonically.

"Do you want to sleep by yourself again tonight?" Sharpay said as she put his outfit in his hands and pushed him into Ryan's room.

* * *

The moment Sharpay push Chad through the door to Ryan's room her towel fell down to the ground along with the last bit of her composure. She almost took out her anger on Chad. She almost acted like Darby. The thought petrified her. She never wanted to be Darby. She quickly turned on her stereo so Chad couldn't hear her crying. If he heard her crying, he would be over there in an instant.

She was angry and hurt, but not at Chad. She knew the only reason why Chad didn't tell her was because Troy specifically asked him not to. What hurt the most was Kim. Kim knew everything about Sharpay from Darby to Richard. Kim even figured out that Sharpay was in love with Chad years before she realized it. Yet Kim never trusted Sharpay in the same way. Sharpay was already upset about Kim keeping her out of the Alex situation even before she knew of Troy's involvement. Theoretically Sharpay understood why, Kim needed to protect Alex. Considering Troy could have been no older than 15 at the time of conception she was probably protecting him as well. She just couldn't understand why Kim didn't feel that she could trust Sharpay to keep the two of them safe as well.

The proverbial cherry on top, was Kim knew all about Sharpay's crush on Troy and yet she never mentioned that her and Troy were lovers. Kim knew about heard dozens of schemes to get with Troy and Kim never said anything. Sharpay felt like a fool. If she had known about Kim and Troy, she would have stopped chasing Troy years ago.

Ironically enough, Troy was the one who told her about his mysterious love. They talked about girl x a lot recently. He never mentioned her name, only her qualities. Even Chad didn't know that Troy only started dating Gabriella to get over girl x. Troy even followed Gabriella because he didn't want to lose her like he lost girl x, even though he didn't love Gabriella. As it turn out Troy's girl x was Kim.

Sharpay pushed her thoughts of betrayal and sadness behind the wall. Knowing Darby, the car would be waiting before 9:00. She grabbed her outfit that match Chad's perfectly. She went with different shades of blue. She was distancing herself from the pink that Darby forced her to wear.

10 minutes later, she stood staring at her reflection only wearing her underwear and top. She was desperately trying to get her hair together, but nothing was really working. She would just where it up. As she began to placer hair in a ponytail, her shirt went up just enough for her to see the scar on her stomach. Sharpay gently traced the scar with one finger.

She remembered the day. Kim found her in the rehearsal room trying not to cry after Darby attacked her for getting the choreography wrong. That was when they became friends. Kim was the only one who knew that Darby used to hit her. From age five until age 11 when they move to Rhode Island for a one year, Darby hit Sharpay. After that, Darby stuck to psychological abuse only.

"Sharpay do you know what tie I should wear with this jacket?" She turned around at the sound of his voice. However, she didn't say a word, instead her hand just stayed on that one scar. The tear tracks were still visible on her face. He didn't say a word. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her.

* * *

In the 13 years that he has known her, he has never seen Sharpay like this. She was completely undone. She was so messed up that he had to help her get dressed. Her hands were shaking too much to continue. Her reaction couldn't be just about Kim. She was too undone for it to be just about Kim. He felt betrayed by Troy secret, but he never had the reaction Sharpay was having. Maybe it was Darby. He wasn't sure if the woman's adultery was the only factor.

The only person who would know for sure would be Kim. When he was outside the mansion alone waiting for the car to pick them up, he decided to call Kim. When she didn't pick up, he assumed she was still with Troy which caused him to leave a not so nice message. "Kim when you get done blowing my best friend could you please call me back. Your best friend is having a slight nervous breakdown or major nervous breakdown. I'm not sure which."

"Nice message," Sharpay said from behind him. She instantly grabbed his hand. Even though she seemed to be normal, he could still feel her body shaking. "You're not going to tell them that I know?" Sharpay asked him as they stepped inside the town car.

"No, because then I would have to tell them that I told you. I assume you want them to suffer until Thanksgiving when they were planning to tell you anyway. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. You keep things in for so long, I don't know if you're reacting to the present or the past. Maybe we should just go home. I'll call your dad's assistant and tell him we're not feeling well."

"We're going. If we back out, I will never hear the end of it from Darby. I will tell you everything tonight. Just give me time okay?" Sharpay said as she went in for a soft kiss.

"Tonight you will tell me everything?"

"I promise." Sharpay said as she leaned into him.

* * *

He was currently watching Kim run around trying to get Alex and herself ready before they had to meet her dad at 10. Alex was still running around in his pajamas and Kim was still sporting post sex hair. He knew they should not have tried to fit in round five this morning. They never did grasp the concept of a quickie, even when they were sneaking around in high school.

"Can I help you?"

"Hold him down as I change him." 5 minutes later, the two of them manage to get Alex in a pair of dress pants.

"Just so you know I'm scheduling potty training for when you're living with us this summer. There's no way I'm handling that alone." Despite the fact that they did spend a good portion of their time working through two years of sexual tension, they did manage to work through a lot of their other issues. Apparently talking things out between sexual encounters seemed to work well for them.

"Is he always like this?" Troy asked her as he heard a knock on the front door.

"Yes, why do you think I got a nanny as soon as I could afford it?" Kim said as she walked over to answer the door. It was his father with coffee in his hands. "I thought we were not meeting until 10." Kim said quickly in panic.

"I figured you could use your daily coffee and I could talk to my son for a few minutes before we see your dad."

"I definitely can use the caffeine. I think I only got about 3 hours of sleep last night."

"I heard. You know for a four star hotel these walls are pretty thin." Troy instantly saw Kim blush. He wondered how long it would take her to realize his father was bluffing. There was no way he could hear them because he was on a different floor.

"I think I am going take a shower now while you two talk." A blushing Kim said running into the bathroom.

"Do you really have to mess with her like that? She is already edgy because of her father and losing her cell phone."

"Yes."

"So did you come here the yell at me because of the scene at the Airport or the fact I probably got less than 3 hours asleep on game day." Troy knew he was getting lecture eared way.

"Considering their both the same reason I could probably yell at you for both. As for not sleeping on game day, I'm not your coach anymore. As your father, we have more important things to talk about, like what's going on with you and Kim. Did you two work out everything last night or did you spend the majority of the night not sleeping?" He Knew exactly what his dad meant by not sleeping.

"More like talking in between not sleeping. You know what we did last night, so I'm not going to elaborate. Despite that, we did actually decide on a lot of things. Besides my relationship with Kim was one of the things on the list."

"Are you transferring to A of U next year?"

"We decided that at least for the next year we're going to be doing the long distance joint custody thing. At least every two weeks one of us is going to fly to visit the other. During the summer, I will live in New Mexico and Kim is going to take summer session so she can graduate in December of 2009. Kim is going to look into graduate programs in the San Francisco region. Transferring is not a viable option because we would both get behind too much academically. Berkeley has a better drama department, contrary to what everybody thinks, that was the real reason why I'm going to school there. Plus there is my eligibility to play basketball if I transfer schools," he brought up the last point even though it wasn't in fact a factor, in hopes of appeasing his father.

"I hope that basketball was not a major factor in your decision-making?" Okay he Wasn't expecting that response. This was coming from a man who lived and breathed basketball.

"That's a major change from last year." Troy said to his father in shock.

"Last year you did not have a two year old son. That we were aware of. Things are different when you have a kid."

"I realize I don't have the same choices any more. Basketball was only considered in the capacity of a basketball scholarship. If I had to choose Alex or basketball, I choose Alex."

"If money is the only reason…"

"Dad money is not even a factor. Kim's trust fund matures in less than three weeks. When she turns 21 she will have full power over a trust fund estimated at $21.2 million. Kim will be paying me "child support. Although, I think it's just her way of making sure I'm not living on a diet of Raman noodle. "

"She chose Alex over $21.2 million?" his father said in complete shock.

"Actually at that time it was worth $28.9 million, but the market has taken a dive recently."

"I definitely glad she was the girlfriend that you accidentally got pregnant."

* * *

30 minutes into brunch with Darby Sharpay wish she listened to Chad in the car. Her dad had a last minute Saturday morning meeting with the board and would not be joining the group until later today.

So far this morning Darby criticized her appearance "I really wish you would go back to being a blonde you were so much prettier back then." "Blue just isn't your color darling. You looks so much better in pink." and her personal favorite, "You do know that the freshman 15 is just a myth. You don't have to put on any weight in college"

Darby also criticized her directorial debut. "Why did you decide to reverse the genders of the characters? Lucy's character was too aggressive. She shouldn't be the one chasing after William." "I thought I kept you from making a fool of yourself when I made the principle kill the production two years ago."

She criticized Sharpay's choice of major "I don't know why you are majoring in business. You never had a head for numbers." Apparently, her mother forgot about her straight A's in all her math and statistic classes in high school. If it didn't involve performing, Darby didn't care. Sharpay had to keep Chad from throwing a fork at her when she said this.

There was also a good 5 minute rant about the almost sex tape which included choice lines such as "If you're going to sleep around, make sure there are no cameras involved." and "Why did you have such horrible music playing in the background?"

Darby was at her worse when she started on Chad personally. Darby criticizes everything from his hair to his clothing. Darby even managed to get a couple racial insults in there that made Sharpay want to crawl under the table. Even though she now hated the guy for cheating on her with Penelope, she was glad they were never serious enough with Zeke for him to get to the meet the parents stage of the relationship. If they were in the public dining area, Darby would just make polite conversation. Unfortunately, they were sitting in a private dining area, which allowed Darby to let loose.

"You're not actually going to eat bread are you? You know it goes straight to your hips. How are you going to attract a suitable husband if you are fatter than you already are? You must be what a size six now." Darby said to her with her normal condescending tone.

"I'm not looking mother. I already have a boyfriend." She would mention she was already planning to be Mrs. Sharpay Danforth, but she didn't want Chad to go into a choking fit in front of her mother. Fortunately, Chad answered for her.

"Since I'm the one who will most likely be her future husband, I really don't care if she's a size six or a size 26."

"Like she is going to marry someone like you. You're fine for a college fling. You are not husband material. My daughter must marry someone of a certain class. That is just not you. Excuse me I need to go freshen up."

If Darby didn't leave right then Sharpay was going to stab her were her heart was supposed to be. Sometimes she wondered if a wooden stake would be more appropriate. Maybe wooden stakes worked on emotional vampires as well.

"Your mother is an absolute bitch. First, she cheats on your father and now she treats you like trash. I don't care what she says about me, but I won't let her talk to you like that."

"That's a horrible thing to say about your future mother in law, even if it's true." Sharpay said with a smile as she kissed him." This is tame for her. She loves torturing me. She gets off on the pain. That is how everyone but you and Troy had jobs here that one summer. She knew it would drive me crazy to have all those people from high school that made fun of me here all the time."

"I thought I was part of that group?" he asked in confusion.

"Remember, you applied separately. When I went to talk to Fulton about hiring Troy, I notice your application in the stack of possible summer hires. I persuaded him to hire you. I hoped that if you were already here Troy would be more willing to work here. If you remember from my paper, the whole scheme was to get Troy away from Gabriella. If I knew he was hopelessly in love with Kim and was using Gabriella as a substitute, I would have bought him a first class ticket to New York instead."

"What did you want more Troy or to get Troy away from Gabriella?" Chad asked his girlfriend in all seriousness.

"For him to be happy and away from Gabriella. If he's happy with Kim, then that's great because she is not evil."

"Then why are you so upset?"

"This is nothing to do with Troy. I've been over him for a long time. This is just a reaction to a million different things. Only half of them involve being betrayed by my best friend. Can we talk about how evil my mother is again? I can't believe she said you were not husband material. Like I would ever marry some country club snob. At least she has toned down in recent years.

"This is your mother tone down. What did she do before, actually hurt you physically instead of just psychologically?" Her eyes told him too much.

"She did," Chad said in shock realization. All Sharpay could do was nod her confirmation. He continued on remembering something from their childhood. "In fifth grade during recess you were playing on the monkey bars and your shirt slipped a little. I remember seeing all these bruises on your back. You told me you got it at rehearsal for your dance recital. That was a lie?"

"Not completely, Darby hit me because I was bad at rehearsal. That was the last time. Child welfare services came to check on what was going on. They believed me when I told them the same lie I told you. After that close call, she never hit me again. We moved to Rhode Island after that for a little while until the rumors died down. To this day, I still don't know how anybody found out."

"When I went home that day I told my mom what I saw and what you told me. I guess she saw through it more easily than I did. She worked child abuse cases at that time. We should have got you out of there."

"It's fine. Even if I didn't get away from her. You got to her stop. If I didn't already love you that fact alone would make me. Even Ryan didn't notice the bruises. You're the only one who was paying attention."

"Didn't Kim notice what was going on?"

"Who do you think ran interference for six years? Kim even gave up parts for me in grade school just to keep Darby from hurting me." Sharpay said quickly before Darby walked back into the room with Sharpay's father on her arm. They were kissing and touching. The vision of a perfect family made Sharpay lose all appetite for the little food that Darby was allowing her to eat.

* * *

The family buffet brunch was going worse than dinner the night before. If she thought they could get away with it; her, Troy, and Alex would sit at a completely different table. As her father went into another one of his rants about her being a disgrace to the entire Kim family, she thought about her conversation with Troy between rounds two and three early this morning. It was amazing the amount of clarity you can have after a good double orgasm.

"_I think what irritates me the most about my dad's attacks on us is he uses the same line about me being a disgrace to the family name." Kim said as she curled into Troy's naked body and kissed him on the lips once more. _

"_You know if you're such a disgrace to the family name why don't you get a new last name. I personally prefer Kimberly Bolton." Troy said as he began to stroke her inner thigh. Part of her wanted his hand to go higher, but she knew if he did this conversation would probably never get finished._

"_I'm not going to marry you just to spite my father even if we are in Vegas. We've only been back together for about 7 hours. We still have a million things to work through." _

"_Kim we've been back together since the moment you called me back in August. It just took me a little time to figure it out. People who are just friends don't call each other twice a day to share their deepest secrets or tell each other "I love you" all the time. " Troy said all this as he peppered her collarbone with kisses. "I love you," he said this as he moved down to her bear breast kissing each one." I love our son," he said as he kissed the scar from her emergency caesarean. "I know you love me," he was in between her thighs at this point. "I think we should get married." _

"_21, I'll marry you then." Kin said with a screen as he began to touch that very sensitive place._

"_You turned 21 in three weeks." Troy said as he continued teasing her with his fingers._

_  
"When you turn 21, I'll marry you if we are still together." she said breathlessly as he intensified his ministrations._

"_You could still take my last name now. We're already going to change Alex's name. It wouldn't be that strange if you both have the same last name and I want you to have it now." Troy said this as he kissed her stomach once more as he continued torturing her with his expert hands. _

"_If I say yes we you please stop torturing me?"_

"_I'm having so much fun," he said as he finally replaced his hands with what she really wanted._

Her dad's continuous shouting pulled her out of her very pleasant memories just before it got to the orgasmic part. He just used that same tired line for the 90th time this weekend. They were going to wait until the lawyers had the paperwork ready. However, her father just gave her the perfect opportunity.

"I'm sorry you see me as such a thing of dishonor. I could never do anything right. Don't worry after my birthday, I won't be bringing any more reproach to the family name. Because by than I won't have It." Both her father and Jack looked at her in complete shock.

"You're not marrying that boy," Mr. Kim screamed at her.

"If we did decide to get married, that's our business. We're both over 18. If we wanted to, we could be married by the time we have to meet Troy's coach at two. Don't worry, the wedding is not happening until 2011. You have plenty of time to get over it. I guess it goes without saying that we are dating again. Yes dad we did have sex last night. It was really good multiple orgasm, wake them neighbors, try out things from the Kama Sutra sex. I guess that's what happens when you are kept away from someone you really love for two years, five months, and eight days." she actually kept track of how long they were apart. Just to twist the knife in a little bit more she gave Troy a kissed that was anything but chase. This was an 'I want round six and seven as soon as where alone' kiss.

"If you're not getting married right away. How will you get your new last name on your 21st birthday?" Jack asked her as he recovered from the initial shock of the engagement announcement.

"If it's okay with you, I intend to take the Bolton last name now."

"I think it's a great ideal."

"Dad, I've been trying to make you a happy for the last 21 years. I've never succeeded. I am going to stop trying to change the things that I know I can never change. . I was always a failure in your eyes. In a few weeks, I will be free completely of you and mom, money and all."

"So you only see me as a pocketbook?"

"That's what you made yourself. I personally don't care about the money anymore. I live without it for two years. It's not that of big a thing."

"When your trust fund was restored, Vanessa made sure it your mother couldn't use it against you again."

"That is good to know. As far as I am concerned until you can accept me for who I really am, I don't want to see you. Vanessa is still welcome in my house, but until you grow up your not. Troy and I have a few more things to talk about, Jack can you take Alex for a little while."

"Sure."

"Thank you," Kim said leaving the hotel restaurant with Troy beside her. The moment she walk in to their suite she collapse on the floor in tears. Troy's arms were around her within 10 seconds. "Let it go Kim." he whispered as he held onto her as if she would fall away.

* * *

Shopping with Darby has always been a painful experience. Sharpay was never the right size or weight for Darby, anything bigger than a zero was unacceptable. The fact that Chad was forcing her to eat as a normal person meant that Sharpay had managed to put on 10 pounds since the school year began. Chad was happy because most went to her chest area.

"I'm sorry that I am actually with someone who won't let me starve myself in the name of fashion." Sharpay said shouting at her mother when they made it back to the car. Darby had no reply to that instead went into a 20 minute screen fest of why she didn't like Chad filled with nasty racial slurs and other expletives that Sharpay will never repeat.

"Why do you hate him so much?" Sharpay finally asked her mother when they were almost at lava springs.

"He's just not one of us."

"You have no idea how thankful I that he's not. Chad loves me for me. Not for my money or what he can get from me. For the first time in my entire life, I can be myself around somebody. He accepts me as I am. You never did."

"You never tried hard enough. You were never good enough. I tried so hard to make you into the perfect performer. Unfortunately, nothing ever seemed to work."

"None of that was about me. I will never be good enough for you, but I'm good enough for him. I don't care anymore. I lost all respect for you a long time ago. I don't need you anymore. By the way Chad saw you with Jose last night."

"You're going to believe his word over your own mothers."

"I am not the five year old who you used to beat the hell out of. I hit back, Darby." She cannot even refer to this monster as her mother anymore. Even if he didn't have video evidence and a second witness I would believe him ever time. Unlike you, he never hurt me the way you did. Even when we thought we hated each other, he never hit me. We are not going to stay silent this time. By the way, he's showing those pictures to dad now.

There's no point. Your father already knows. Jose is not even the first one. You know how important images to your father. A broken family is bad for business."

"This family is already broken even if nobody sees it." Sharpay said as she quickly ran out of the car as soon as they were back at lava springs. She wouldn't give Darby the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

* * *

The last thing Chad wanted to do was play golf with Mr. Evans. He wanted to be with Sharpay. Instead she was force to shop with that monster who passed herself off as a mother. 24 hours ago he was absolutely terrified to spend time with Mr. Evans. He wasn't afraid of him anymore. He did not even respect him anymore. How could he let Darby hurt Sharpay like that? How could he not know what was happening in his own house? He doubted that he would get an answer this afternoon when the conversation focused on basketball and who Obama might pick for his cabinet. On the 16th hole he decided to tell Mr. Evans exactly where he stood with his daughter.

"Despite what you and Darby might think, I love your daughter very much. I'm not the boyfriend of the week. I'm your future son in law." Chad said with pure cockiness.

"Unlike my wife, I know you're not a fling. I Care about my daughter very much and I know you make her happy."

"Sometimes I doubt that. You are the one who forced your daughter to go to a school that didn't have a good drama program for the sake of image. I am not the one who uses her to support their own public persona. No wonder she is seeing a therapist three times a week. When was the last time you actually did something for her that didn't involve buying a car or booking a hotel reservation. You missed most of breakfast and last night show."

"I've done lots of things for my daughter, including fixing the mess with the video."

"Was that really for Sharpay and me? What you did had nothing to do with us. It was about you and protecting your image. In addition, it may have something to do with keeping me on the basketball team to get money from the boosters. The only important thing in the Evans family is image.

Is that why you stay with Darby despite everything she has done to you and your children? Is that why you let Darby forced Ryan and Sharpay to rehearse 6 hours a day, every day. Is that why you let Darby force Sharpay into so many activities, that she had no time for anything else? Did you know about the bruises? Do you know that Darby used to beat the hell out of your daughter? Even child protective services were called."

"That was a misunderstanding. Sharpay used to fall a lot during rehearsals back then." Chad didn't know if the man was clueless or just in denial. Neither option was appealing.

"Oh Sharpay fell a lot in rehearsals, into Darby's fist. I was 10 at the time and I still found the bruises suspicious. I was going to do this as nicely as possible ,but I just can't now." Chad said as he pulled his Iphone from his pocket and handed it to Mr. Evans "you can have the phone back, I really don't want it any more. Just so you know you're perfect loving wife who tortured your daughter is probably cheating on you with some guy half your age." Chad promptly left the golf course and Mr. Evans behind.

Chad kept walking. No wonder Sharpay kept the ice princess persona for so long if things were really this bad. Now everything was starting to come out in one big explosion. This happening when he found her in the rehearsal room 20 minutes later. The furniture was tossed throughout the room. He caught her just before she smashed the giant mirror in from of the room. Tears were running down her face and her body was shaking. Quickly he placed her on the one couch remaining in an upright position and went to lock the door. This conversation needed complete privacy. He placed his arms around her as he sat down next to her on the backless couch.

"Are you ready to talk now?" Chad gently asked her as he placed a single kiss on her forehead. When she nodded her head yes he continued. "Let's start with the easy question, why did you destroy this room?"

* * *

The meeting with troy's coach went well on Saturday. Although it was probably, best that Troy only played for a few minutes during the game. Their activities from earlier today probably drained a great deal of energy. On Sunday after a tear filled goodbye and a short flight, Kim was back in New Mexico. She wondered if she could actually make it these 2 ½ weeks without him. How did she managed 2 1/2 years she would never know. Thanksgiving and her 21st birthday, felt as if they would never come.

"Are you okay," Jack asked as they walked to her car that was stationed in visitor parking. They did not talk on playing because she was trying to do in English homework and he was grading exams for his health class. She learned a long time ago never to talk to Jack Bolton at a basketball game.

"Why does everyone keep asking that question?"

"Because you look like you can fall apart at any moment."

"It's just been a long weekend with everything with my dad and Troy."

"I'm sure it's been a long weekend considering you're now engaged or was that just another way to psychologically torture your father?"

"We're actually engaged, well sort of. I basically said I would marry Troy if we were still together when he turn 21. There's no way I'm ever telling anybody the real story of our engagement. Troy is going to have to propose again, so we have a story that we can tell our children. The possible psychological torture of my father is just a bonus." Kim said as they finally reached the car.

"After you left you know he was really upset."

"Yet he got on a plane without even trying to talk to me. I'm standing by what I said."

"I don't doubt that." Jack said as Kim finally found her missing cell phone inside Alex's car seat as she buckled her son in.

"Let's see how many messages I have. 23 Text Messages and four voice mails." She quickly listened to the three voice mails from Vanessa that begged her to talk to her father. The final one was from Chad." Unfortunately, she played Chad's message loud enough for Jack to hear.

"Apparently I wasn't the only one who knew you two would it make it through the weekend."

She didn't say anything to that. instead She quickly looked through her text messages. The majority were from Sharpay, the rest were from Troy. She wouldn't risk opening any of Troy's messages with his father around. Even before they were back together and he was still with Gabriella there was a 50/50 chance that Troy's messages X rated. They were so delusional to think that they could be anything but lovers.

After reading Sharpay as messages Kim realize something really bad happen this weekend. She wondered why Chad didn't try calling her on Troy's phone. She called Sharpay,but she didn't pick up. Chad phone also went to voicemail. She quickly sent a text message to both of them before she pulled out of parking lot.

* * *

Vince Evans sat in his office as he normally did on Sundays. Today, he wondered what his workaholic tendencies really cost him. He eventually follow his daughter's boyfriend off the golf course after spending a good 45 minutes contemplating Chad's words on the green. Part of him couldn't believe Darby could do something like that, the other part had always been suspicious. Unfortunately, he was more suspicious of Sharpay's various teachers, then his wife. That is why he place cameras in the rehearsal room after their year in Rhode Island. Regardless of the abuse allegations, he had in his hand evidence that his wife of over 21 years was most likely fucking another man.

When he finally got the courage to confront his daughter, he arrived just in time to see the two leading in the town car. He didn't try to call his daughter and it wouldn't do any good to call Chad since the only number he had for him was currently sitting on top of his desk.

He quickly heard a knock at his door. His assisted Daniel stood in front of him holding a DVD. "This was dropped off a little while ago. It's from Fulton at Lava Springs. He says its footage involving Sharpay at the club. He said not to worry, the original files were destroyed and this is the only copy."

He only watched the first few minutes of the footage, because that's all he could take. In the part that he was willing to watch, he learned his wife was a heartless bitch who tortured their daughter for years and his daughter needed to learn not to do 'things' with her boyfriend when cameras were around. He just hoped this one didn't end up on the Internet.

November 8, 2008 2:45 PM

"Are you ready to talk now? Chad gently asked her as he placed a single kiss on her forehead. When she nodded her head yes he continued. "Let's start with the easy question, why did you destroy this room?"

"Because this is the scene of the crime." She said in a whisper, "I was never as good as Ryan. Ryan inherited all of mom's natural talent. She was a classically trained ballerina before she married my dad. Ryan could get things instantly that took me forever with the choreographer's to pick up. After rehearsals Ryan would get to go play with his friends and I would be stuck going over the numbers again until Darby would get so frustrated that she would …" she were shaking too much to continue.

"She would hit you." He finished for her. "When did it start?"

"When I was five. We were rehearsing for the annual talent show. On the first day of rehearsal with the choreographer, I did really badly and Darby took it out on me. I had bruises on my legs for weeks." Subconsciously he ran a hand over the place that Darby most likely hit. He couldn't decide what he found more shocking that Darby hit Sharpay for not remembering choreography at five or for hiring a choreographer for a five year old in the first place.

"A few weeks later two days before the show she hit me so hard she left permanent scars." Sharpay gently took his hand and moved it underneath her blouse to the physical reminder of that incident. "Kim found me on the floor trying not to cry. She never told anybody about what was happening"

"Let me see." He needed to see the evidence. She quickly unbuttoned her blouse revealing the scar and the soft blue lace bra she was wearing. Being a guy, he did have to admire the way her breasts looked in the blue fabric before moving on to the scar. He quickly placed a very hot kiss on the mark, as if he was trying to cleanse it of its painful past. "You are so beautiful," he muttered as he kissed her body once more. "There's so many great things about you." He said as he kissed each one of her breast individually through the fabric. "You may not be the perfect Dancer or singer. However, you are a brilliant writer and a fabulous director. I loved every minute of the show last night."

"I'm a broken mess." He pulled up to meet her at eye level.

"You're not beautiful despite your imperfections." He said taking her face in his hands. "You're beautiful because of them. Why do I want perfection? You're like a diamond. You're worth more because of the cracks."

"That was cheesy even for you." She said with a smile.

"Don't care," he said kissing once more. "I want you to show me every scar and tell me every secret. I want to help you let go of this pain. Will you do that for me?"

She proceeded to tell him every story. It seemed like every part of her body had its own vicious tale of pain and sorrow. Every scar was a reminder of the many sins committed against her. He kissed or touched every single mark in an effort to take away her pain. As he continued to listen he realized many marks were caused by Darby forcing Sharpay to be number one by any means necessary.

"Do you remember in eighth grade when I was on crutches for the first few weeks of school? When I was 13, I sprained my ankle right before the big talent show. Unfortunately, Darby would not let me sit out. The performance did so much damage I had to have surgery." Sharpay said this as she gently moved his hands down to the surgical scars. He gently move down and kissed her scars."

From there he moved up to her inner thigh noticing the strange marks and sighed. They removed her skirt at some point earlier in the afternoon. He took a finger and traced each mark noticing it spelled the name he despise the most. "Another permanent reminder from Richard," she said in a Whisper.

"Can I?" He asked permission this time before he continued.

"Yes," at her word his mouth touched her sensitive skin just inches from her hot center causing her breath to hitch in her throat. He heard a moan escape her throat as he accidentally brushed against her most sacred area.

"Sharpay how far do you want this to go?" He asked looking at her once more.

"Not all the way. Eventually, just not today." Sharpay said she kissed him once more. "I just want you to feel everything." At first, he didn't get what she meant. Then she gently moved his hands to the blue lace covering the one part of her anatomy he didn't see that weekend. Before he realized it, the now torn fabric was on the floor allowing him to see her completely. He couldn't breathe. She took his hand again, this time guiding him to her wet center, as sensually giving him permission to enter her. She arched back as one finger, than two entered inside of her. She moaned his named at initial contact.

He watched her body for any signs of fear as he continued to pleasure her. Sharpay was great at keeping up facades. Her eyes always the told the truth. As he gazed at her, the only thing he could see was her love for him and a lot of lust.

Although this is the first time with Sharpay, this was not the first time that he did this. Even though he never actually slept with Taylor, they actually did do this a few times. It always felt awkward and uncomfortable. Something always felt missing. Everything was different with Sharpay. Lust mixed with love was so much better than just lust. From their very first kiss to now, he always felt like they were made for each other. When they were together, it just felt like it was supposed to be.

Physically this also felt different. Then he remembered Taylor was technically a virgin and Sharpay unfortunately due to no fault of her own was not. This was the last physical reminder of all the sins committed against Sharpay by people who supposedly loved her.

He needed to make this is good as possible for her. He wanted to take away all her memories of the horrible night with Richard. He wanted to help her let go of that pain. He wanted to help her through all the things she kept bottled up inside for so long. He kept whispering 'I love you' over and over again trying to make sure she knew this was a completely different experience. He wanted to make sure that by every touch and kiss that she knew that he loved her completely. This entire experience was about her not him, which is why he pushed her hands away when she tried to unfasten his pants.

Her physical climax was almost as profound as her emotional one. As she screamed out his name in ecstasy, he realize that she finally let him in completely. Not just physically but emotionally as well. The walls that Sharpay had spent a lifetime building with finely gone for him. He never felt more connected to anyone before.

* * *

She never felt like this before, completely loved and cherished by another person. Every touch and kiss sent her closer to the edge. She tried to unbutton his pants at some point he pushed her away with his free hand and told her that this would be just about her. His words were what brought her to an earth shattering release.

They laid on the couch for a moment as she caught her breath. She wanted to stay like this forever with him. Then she remembered a certain busybody manager would probably be checking on the space any moment. She quickly moved to get dressed but was stopped by Chad.

"Don't leave,"

"Fulton is going to be here any minute to check on the room, because we've been in here too long without a scheduled rehearsal time. Too bad the man didn't work here when Darby was at her most evil." Sharpay said as she grabbed her now torn underwear from the floor. "Did you really have to rip off my panties? I really like that pair."

"What is it with you and your underwear fixation. I personally prefer you Sans Underwear." Chad said pulling her back with him on the couch. She could definitely feel the effect she was having on him off. "You do not have to worry about Fulton, I locked the door."

"Two words, master key"

"So where exactly did I throw your skirt?" Chad said getting off the couch to help find her clothing.

A/N: I've never been more terrified to post a chapter before.


	18. Very Awkward Conversations

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm glad so many of you agreed with the decision to raise the rating. This is a faster update than usual because I am going to be very busy this weekend. This chapter will foreshadow a lot of events in the second half of the story.

* * *

Disclaimer I don't own anything.

Chapter 18: Very Awkward Conversations

It was the first away game of the season and they actually won, if only by two points. Under normal circumstances, Chad would be out celebrating with his teammates if he could actually stand any of them. However, since he was the only player under 18 his coach was having him watched constantly. Then again it may be Sharpay; she did have a lot of pool at the school. That may explain why Amanda is running groupie interference.

Either way it kept Penelope from sneak into his hotel room. Amanda who was currently drowning under makeup homework was sitting next to him screaming at her computer for not recognizing her voice. Currently the computer cannot tell the difference between picture frame and pitcher of water. She initially came over for assistance with her chemistry and now he was helping her work on her English homework. He should probably intervene before she kills the computer.

"Why do teachers have to be so picky about grammar and spelling mistakes? It's not my fault the computer doesn't understand me and I do not have the ability to write a grocery list without a microphone." Amanda said as she ripped off her headset and threw it at the wall. Why do all the women in his life have a tendency to throw things when they get upset? At least she didn't throw it at him this time.

"Throwing microphones across the room is a sure sign that it's time to stop studying. I think your brain is fried from sleep deprivation and your computer needs a break from dictating." Chad said as he powered down Amanda's computer before she had the urge to throw it across the room with the microphone.

"My mind is perfectly fine. I am just frustrated by the stupid software program that doesn't work right, yet I'm completely depended on. Although maybe Penelope snide comments about me being a premedical student who can't even spell premedical student sent me over the edge today. Did you ever wish you were normal?"

"You're talking to somebody who pretended to be of average intelligence through all of high school just to fit in. Trust me; I understand wishing you could be normal. You and I are not normal. I'm exceptional and you're double exceptional. I guess we're just going to have to get used to it." This Thanksgiving _Sharpay _is making him come out of the genius closet to all of their friends from high school. If he didn't love her, he would kill her.

"We're going to have a couple of hours on the plane tomorrow. I'll go over most of the stuff with you then."

"I'm just frustrated in depressed about a lot of things right now. Thank you for helping out." Amanda side as she prepared to walk out the door. "I forgot to tell you earlier, that Sharpay's dad called our dorm room twice. I was too afraid to tell him that she currently only uses her dorm room as a closet." With that, Amanda was out the door.

Amanda didn't have to worry, Mr. Evans already knew about his daughter's sleeping arrangements. However, he was desperate to get a hold of her because she is currently not picking up his calls. Monday after practice, Mr. Evans decided to visit Chad to return his cell phone and scare him half to death. Chad was just about to confront him for not protecting Sharpay from Darby, until Mr. Evans told him that he knew about most of it because of the DVD in his hand. Chad will never forget that conversation.

"_I was always suspicious of the bruises that Sharpay had. It never crossed my mind that it could have been Darby. I was worried it was one of her dance instructors or maybe the voice coach." Mr. Evans told Chad quietly as they walked through the parking lot outside of the practice facilities._

"_When we got back from Rhode Island, I had cameras and microphones installed in the rehearsal room at Lava Springs and at the house. I gave specific instructions to the staff at both places to notify me as soon as anything suspicious showed up involving either of my children. Imagine my surprise when I received this DVD yesterday." That was when Chad realized Mr. Evans had footage of him being intimate with his daughter. Even worse he had footage of Sharpay revealing all of her deepest secrets to him. Chad wasn't sure which Sharpay would feel was a bigger invasion of her privacy._

"_How much did you watch?" Chad asked in mortified embarrassment. _

"_Up to the scene where my daughter's blouse __ended up on the floor__. I preferred to stay ignorant about what you do with my daughter, until after the wedding and you show up with my grandchildren for Sunday brunch. I did call Lisa up and asked her to move your building up to the top of the list for the required sexual health seminar." Chad let go of the breath that he didn't know he was holding __one he realized __Mr. Evans didn't see the end. __He was expecting a much harsher punishment than a sexual health seminar._

"_That seems fair." _

"_That's small part of the footage was enough to make me realize what type of person my wife truly is. The footage of her making out with another man was the cherry on top." Chad could hear the sadness and anger in the man's voice._

"_There were a lot of other things that Darby did to Sharpay over the years. Not all of them were physical. I'm not going to tell you anything else said in that room because it was very personal. I will tell you that it was bad. If you want to know all the details, you have to ask Sharpay. I'm just not sure she trusts you enough to tell you. Darby wasn't the only one that hurt her. You may have never laid a finger on her, but you did hurt her. You were never there. Even Ryan said 90% of their childhood you were away on business. You were away so much that you were unable to see what was going on in your own household."_

"_I know that. You do not have any idea how bad I feel that my own daughter was too afraid to tell me that her mother was Abusive? I put all the wrong things first and this is what I get. I'm sorry for everything that happened."_

"_Don't tell me, tell her. This time don't say it with diamonds, or a car, or some other tangible thing. She needs to know that you actually care. She needs to hear the words from her father, not just see the gifts."_

He was pulled out of his Memory by Sharpay calling. He could tell by the ring tone.

"Hey I just want to say good night before you went to sleep and congratulations on another win."

"You actually watched a basketball game with me not there."

"I told you I would watch every single game."

"Yes but I thought that only applied to home games. Did you do anything interesting today?"

"Went to class, watched a film for film class, ignored Kim at EHS, watched your game, and ignore two phone calls from dad."

"You're still not talking to Kim or your father?" Chad said with a sigh.

"I'm just not ready to talk to my dad yet and I'm not going to let him buy his way out of this. As for Kim, she lied to me for three years. I can be mad for a few days. I really needed her this weekend and she was too busy this weekend 'reconnecting' with Troy. I mean they could've broken apart long enough for her to replied to one of my text messages."

"She left her phone in New Mexico. She did call you as soon as she receive your messages."

"She could have called using Troy's phone." He had the same argument with Kim yesterday in film class when Sharpay stepped out to use the restroom. He decided in the interest of self preservation to stay out of this until it got really bad.

* * *

After only the first one, Sharpay realized that she was going to hate away games. She hated sleeping by herself. She hated not eating breakfast with him or walking to class together. Most of all she hated the fact that she would have to sit with Kim in this class. The only other empty seat besides Chad's was next to Richard and there was no way she was sitting next to that person without a stun gun. No matter how mad she was at Kim. Today they were watching a documentary on drama in film. She wasn't really paying attention, she would watch it again tonight with Chad when he made up the course work for today.

Half way through the documentary, as usual Kim started making snide comments about what was going on. Normally she and Chad would join in on the banter. Today Sharpay just was not into it.

"Just because I'm sitting next to you, doesn't mean I'm talking to you again." Sharpay said in a whisper.

"You just spoke to me. I'm sorry I didn't call you. I lost my phone." Kim whispered back.

"I am only talking to you, to tell you that I'm not speaking to you. Contrary to common belief, land lines still exist. I'm sure _someone_ at your family reunion had a phone you could use. I needed you this weekend, yet you were too busy to even pick up the phone." In her mind she added a snide comment about Kim being too busy banging Troy to actually call her.

"I know you had a bad weekend. Chad told me about the Darby thing."

"Yet you still didn't call me even though you knew some of what was going on?" Sharpay whispered bitterly.

"I know it's not really an excuse, but it was an intense weekend." Oh Sharpay was sure it was intense in the sense that Kim probably didn't leave the bed all weekend.

"I wouldn't know that because you're not sharing things with me anymore. I mean you spend Saturday morning talking to my boyfriend, but you don't talk to me. I'm sure my boyfriend knows more about what is going on with you, than I do."

"Sharpay,"

"Don't Sharpay me. Our friendship has been in decline for a while. You have not been telling me things for a very long time. You did not tell me about Alex until a week after he was born. I called you at least twice a week back then, yet you never said anything. You never mentioned all the problems with your mom or your dad about keeping Alex. If I knew, I would have been there for you because I am your friend. But you wouldn't let me. I am the one who supposedly pushes people away, not you. You never trusted me enough to tell me the identity of Alex's father." Sharpay was trying to fight back tears at this point. She wasn't going to start crying in a room full of people.

"It's not like I didn't trust you. I do trust you. I wasn't ready to tell Alex's dad yet. If I told you, I know you would have told him."

"You're right, I would have told him immediately. What you did was stupid. Both of us would have been there for you. I'm sure Troy told you the exact same thing this weekend." Sharpay didn't mean to say Troy's name. It slipped out.

"You know? Did Chad tell you?" Kim said quietly as the blood drained from her face.

"Chad didn't tell me anything except explain why he didn't tell me. I figured it out on my own. You didn't think I would notice the blue eyes." Sharpay decided not to tell her that she found out by listening in on her conversation with Chad.

"Why couldn't you tell me? Why couldn't you tell me you were dating Troy three years ago? Why couldn't you tell me that you were in love with Troy every time I told you about my crush on him? Why didn't you tell me about Lucille forcing you away from Troy? Why didn't you tell me that you were pregnant when it first happened? Why did you not tell me about your mom trying to force you to give up your child by holding your trust fund hostage?"

"I was scared."

"That's not a good answer Kim. I was scared to. When Darby was hurting me, I was scared. When you know who attacked me, I was scared? When I realized I was in love with the guy I thought I hated, I was absolutely petrified. I still told you about everything. I've always told you about everything. Yet somehow you couldn't do the same for me." Sharpay said this so loudly that the entire class heard her. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't be in that room anymore. Before she even realize what was going on she grabbed her books and ran out the room.

She found herself 15 minutes later at one of the cafés right outside of campus. As she sat at the table with a double chocolate muffin and a no fat soy latte she called the only person she really wanted to talk to. She knew she would get voice mail because he was most likely on the plane already.

"I know you're on the plane. I just wanted to hear your voice, even if it was the voice mail message. Things didn't go that well in film class today. You're going to need to pick up the DVD yourself for tonight. I accidentally told Kim that I knew about Troy. Anyway, love you."

* * *

"Calm down Kim, it's not that bad," Troy said trying to calm down his overexcited girlfriend.

"It's bad. Sharpays not talking to me. We've been friends since I was seven. She hates me. She's completely ignoring me. She even left class just to get away from me today. I didn't want this to happen." He knew things were bad. There was a second part to their fight this afternoon at EHS that his father text messaged him about.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you. She's just really hurt right now. We knew she was going to be upset when we finally told her."

"That's the thing, we didn't tell her. She just found out accidentally. That's what hurts. I didn't trust her enough to tell her. That's why she's upset."

"Why didn't you tell her?"

"I was scared" she said in a sad whisper.

"Is that the truth?"

"It was at the time. I think she was more upset about us keeping the initial relationship a secret from her."

"Chad was upset about that too. I think in Sharpay's case, she's mad because she had a crush on her best friends boyfriend for most of high school and didn't even know it."

"I wasn't worried about her crush on you. Troy you were her safety crush."

"What does that mean?" Troy asked her in puzzlement.

"Sharpay wasn't ready for a real relationship after the break up with Richard. Therefore, she had a crush on the one nice guy at our school that she had no chance with whatsoever. It was just easier to let her crush on you because; I knew you wouldn't hurt her even If you did reciprocate her feelings.

"However, in the back of your mind you knew that I would probably be too hung up on you to move on to her."

"No, I knew that Chad would talk you out of anything, because he already had a crush on her even back then." He started to laugh at that because he knew it was true. He couldn't help but think of Chad's mountain lion comment back during junior year. Now Chad was the one petting the mountain lion.

"I have no ideal you would use someone like Gabriella as a placebo girlfriend." Kim just said the G word. Gabriella was still a very touchy subject.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Troy said with a sigh.

"Did it work?" Kim asked cheekily.

"There is no substitute for Kim Bolton. Unfortunately a certain ex girlfriend doesn't realize I'm not taking her back because she stabbed my friends in the back and I'm in love with someone else."

"You're having way too much fun using my new name. Maybe if you tell the FMG that your new significant other has your last name she will run away before she does something completely desperate. For example, she could show up at your dorm room wearing an outfit more appropriate for a strip club."

"You mean like showing up to my dorm room wearing a trench coat and stilettos. It's too late for that." Troy said under his breath."

"Okay that is just so cliché. So what was your reaction to Ms. Montez's display Mr. Bolton?"

"Ms. Bolton, if a certain someone would let me make her Mrs. Bolton this weekend I would've told my ex that I was already married. However, since you wouldn't do that or even let me tell anybody that were engaged I just had to make the best of the situation."

"What was the best of the situation Mr. Bolton?" He needed to answer this question very carefully if he ever wanted to see Kim in stilettos and a trench coat.

"I left her in the room and went to the library to study." He could hear Kim laughing on the other side of the line. "Now if it was you who showed up to my room in a trench coat, it would have been a very different situation."

"Not happening, but if you want to try it sometime I'm all for it."

* * *

It was 3:00 AM and he could feel his girlfriend tossing and turning next to him. She wasn't sleeping and he knew it was because of everything going on with Kim, Darby, and Mr. Evans. Chad was already planning on resorting to desperate measures. But her restlessness just cemented his decision.

"I'm sorry I woke you up. I can go over in sleep in my own bed tonight if you want?" Sharpay said getting up from the bed. He quickly pulled her back again up against his bare chest.

"Then you will wake up Amanda instead. She's already irritated because her parents could not afford for her to go home for thanksgiving and her voice recognition software destroy her homework. Besides I don't want you walking around the floor only wearing a T shirt." Personally he would have preferred her out of said T shirt.

"I learned my lesson last time. Do you know that Amanda has a picture of me from that morning on her laptop?" He knew all about that picture. It was currently on his cellphone or at least it was on his cell phone. That file mysteriously disappeared from the phone after it was returned.

"I told Amanda I would pay for a ticket if she really wanted to go. She said she couldn't take money from me. Personally I think it's an excuse to stay away from her crazy family."

"Probably,"

"I just don't want her to be stuck in the dorms alone. How do you feel about a third person crashing thanksgivings with us?"

"I will ask my parents. I'm sure Troy and Kim will be happy with another witness in case things truly go bad. You're still going to come watch the fireworks even though you're mad at them." Chad said caressing her thigh.

"Like I'm going to miss this. This is going to be the car wreck of the year. I can't believe they're planning on breaking the news to everyone at Thanksgiving. Do they realized how big of a disaster this is going to be?"

"You could call her up right now and tell her?" Even in the pale moonlight, he could still see her shaking her head no.

"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do. However, this stops now Sharpay. I know Kim and your dad are the reason why you're tossing and turning at 3:06 AM. You are going to have to face your problems eventually. You have to talk things out with Kim and you're going to have to call your father." He said as he kissed her once more.

"I think I rather call Kim first. Although I'm probably going to have to apologize at this point, I said some really mean things. Maybe I Wait until Monday when I have to see her at EHS." He knew this was the stall technique for sharpay. It looks drastic action was still required.

"I'm just not ready to talk to dad yet. I'm just really upset about a lot of things. My father concentrated so much on his career, that he barely had time for Ryan and me. There were some moments that I thought he cared, but they were few and far between. Maybe it would be easier to forgive him if there was some way that I knew for sure that he really cared about me and didn't see me as a way to make himself look better."

"What if I told you there was actual evidence that he really did care about you and was worried."

"How do you know this?"

"Your dad stop by practice Monday to return my phone and to drop off his peace offering."

"So what guilt gift did he give us this time? I'm sure for this disaster it was probably something good like a condo." The material part of the gift was a heavily funded account at Tiffany's for Chad to use when the time was right. Even Chad felt that was a bit more of a symbolic gesture than the usual guilt gift Ryan told him about last week.

"He just brought me a DVD."

"What was so special about this DVD?"

"Did you know that your father put cameras in the rehearsal room because he didn't completely believe that your bruises were caused by dancing?"

"So he actually did see what was going on." Sharpay said in relief. "I had no idea there are cameras in that room," then he felted her body go completely rigid as she piece everything together.

"The room still has cameras?"

"Yes. He also had the room wired for sound. "

"That means that…"

"He only watched enough to know what Darby did to you when you were five. He stopped at that point because it was too personal. Don't worry; I have the only copy hidden in my sock door."

At that his girlfriend promptly went unconscious.

* * *

"I wonder who had the brilliant idea to schedule this seminar on Saturday." Sharpay said in annoyance to her boyfriend as they walked to Nicholas hall. She had better things to do then attend a class on a Saturday. Like her chemistry homework, her pre calculus homework, or deciding what classes she is taking next semester.

"Your father," Chad muttered under his breath.

"This is completely your fault."

"How is this my fault?"

"You're the one who couldn't keep your hands to yourself last Saturday in the rehearsal room."

"You were not upset about it at the time. You definitely were not upset about it last night when I did the exact same thing. I really do love watching your face at that certain moment." Sharpay when scarlet when she remembered exactly what Chad did to her last night. If she thought the rehearsal room was intense, what they did together last night was nuclear. Although he still wouldn't let her reciprocate.

"If I knew there were cameras around, I wouldn't have done anything last weekend in the rehearsal room." She was so freaked out last night it took the good perfume to revive her.

"You would have dragged me to your bedroom at the summer house so you could have your wicked way with me instead." He told her with a cheeky smile.

"Other way around. You were the one who had your wicked way with me just like you did last night. You knew for five days about the security cameras and you didn't tell me."

"I did tell you. I just took my time." She really wasn't that upset. Mortified beyond believe but not upset. "What room are you supposed to be in again?" Chad asked his girlfriend. Sharpay pulled out the e-mail she received yesterday with the seminar instructions.

"My seminar is in room 123 which is right across the hall."

"I'll see you after class Sharpay." said as she passionately kissed her boyfriend goodbye.

"If that's a goodbye kiss, no wonder you were signed up for this class." Commented the instructor from inside as she entered the room. Sharpay were shocked to find Kim entering the classroom.

"What are you doing here? I thought this seminar was only required for freshmen."

"Apparently it's also required for transfer students. Considering I already have a two year old, I don't see the point of me taking a seminar about preventing early pregnancy."

"This class may still be useful, I doubt that you want to have a three year old and a newborn while you're still in school." Called the instructor from the front of the classroom where she was setting up various types of contraceptive devices including birth control pills, diaphragms, cervical caps, male condoms, female condoms, latex gloves, and a flat sheet of latex that Sharpay didn't know the name for. Sharpay had a feeling this will be her father's most creative punishment yet.

* * *

Chad ran away from the class room as quickly as possible. He needed to be safely away from the vicinity of the room before his girlfriend realizes that this was a setup. Friday both he and Troy concluded that the only sensible solution was to actually lock their girlfriends in a room with a mediator that wasn't either of them.

This meant Chad calling in a favor from Sharpay's father. Who was apparently waiting for him in the classroom where his seminar was supposed to be. Why did he have a sickening feeling that Sharpay wasn't the only person being set up this afternoon?.

"What are you doing here?"

"You were the one who told me I needed to prove to my daughter that I actually care about her. After the seminar, I thought I would take her to an early dinner while you get ready for tonight's game. Than tonight will watch you play. However, I thought I would start with something fun like scaring the hell out of you." This did not sound good, Chad thought to himself as he took a seat.

"This is a condom," Mr. Evans said holding up the foil package. "If you sleep with my daughter without wearing one and subsequently get her pregnant unintentionally, I will force the entire package down your throat. Is that understood?" Now Chad remembered why he was so terrified last week. Maybe he should have just kept quiet.

* * *

Candi was not in a good mood this weekend. Candi was supposed to be at a wine tasting with her husband at a quaint bed and breakfast in the desert. Instead, she received a urgent phone call from Lisa asking her to teach a special sexual health seminar. Candi had no idea why they couldn't use one of the regular instructors. So instead of spending time with her husband using some of the devices that she would be modeling in class today, she would be speaking upon the virtues of the dental dam. Someone is going to pay for this.

"Hello I am your instructor Candi Kane. Yes that is my real name."

"It is still better than my current name of Kim Kim." Candi thought her parents were sadists.

"I'm sure somebody is looking forward to taking their future husbands last name. Why not take a seat next to your friend and we will begin the seminar as soon as the PowerPoint loads."

"Shouldn't there be other people?" said the girl called Kim.

"I thought my entire floor was supposed to be coming to this." Apparently, nobody told the two girls that they were being pulled for a special seminar.

"There at the regular seminar. Both of you were recommended to take the special seminar. So it's just going to be the three of us today."

"I knew my father was doing this as a punishment. This is what happens when you go to a school where your father is on the board of directors." That explains why she was called in. One of the board members daughters was caught doing inappropriate things with her boyfriend in inappropriate places. She wish people would stop using this seminar as some sort of punishment.

"Sharpay what did your father catch you doing? You guys didn't go all the way did you?"

"If you called me last Saturday like a good friend, I would've told you?" The girl called Sharpay said to the other girl. Candi could sense a lot of animosity coming from the two girls. She had a feeling she would be using her peer counseling skills a lot today.

"You can work out your personal issues later. Let's began the seminar so we can all enjoy the rest of our Saturday." Candi said as she put a diagram of the female sex organ on the screen. "I know most of you are familiar with this diagram, except the high school version probably had the clitoris airbrushed."

"We went to a high school where the health teacher had to keep double lesson plans for this chapter. I'm surprised our high school principle didn't try to tear the diagram out of the book." She heard sharpay said.

"Jack told me this weekend, that the principle is trying to cut the entire section from the curriculum. He cannot do it because it's a state requirement. He really is going too far." Kim told Sharpay who started laughing hysterically.

"Who is Jack?" Candi asked in confusion.

"Our high school health teacher, my boyfriend's father, and my son's grandfather," Kim told her.

"You guys went to the same high school?"

"We are best friends," Kim told the Candi.

"We would be if you didn't lie to me for three years."

"I said I was sorry. I know we should have told you the truth in the beginning but we were just scared and under so much pressure to stick with the status quo."

"You could have told me anyway."

"I know but I felt a lot of guilt."

"About lying to me?"

"About having sex on the roof of the high school with Troy when Richard slipped GHB into your drink at the spring dance your sophomore year. It turns out while you were being raped; I was being knocked up by my boyfriend." As soon as she heard GHB she knew why none of the other counselors couldn't take this. She was the only one who trained in pure mediation and rape counseling. This was more complicated than just two friends fighting.

"I was so busy being with Troy that I wasn't looking out for you. Richard hurt you because I wasn't there to stop it." Apparently Kim blamed herself for the other girls sexual assault.

"You could not have stopped it from happening." Sharpays said grabbing the other girl.

"You stop Ricky from doing the same thing to Kerri." Kim said in tears. Time for her to intervene

"In addition to doing seminars like these, I also do rape counseling. Kim I'm going to tell you the exact same thing I tell the girls that come in. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault either Sharpay. How long ago did this happen?

"Three years ago." Both girls sat at the said time.

"It seems that we have more pressing issues then going through various types of contraceptives or ways to prevent disease and pregnancy. I think the more pressing thing is for me to help you guys work for this. Although, Sharpay I'm sending you home with a starter kit. If that kiss was any indication, you're going to need it. Let's start with the hard question, Kim why can't you forgive yourself for what happened?"

* * *

It was the longest hour of his entire life. After the initial threats of suffocation and genital mutilation, the student instructor showed up to give the normal presentation. During the presentation Chad received several more threats involving the loss of certain appendages if he ever hurt Sharpay, forced her to do anything she wasn't ready for, or gave her a STD. The suffocation by latex threat seemed mild compared to those involving castration and a forced vasectomy with a rusty knife. He was pretty sure most of the things described were against the Geneva convention. Chad was starting to think his father got off easy with the shotgun wedding. Then again, Mr. Evans did see him do several inappropriate things to his daughter on film.

Chad was still shaking as they made their way to Kim and Sharpay.

"I really hope this works. I don't think I can take another week of the two of them not speaking to each other." Chad said with a sigh.

"I'm sure the two of them will work through this. They have been friends for as long as I can remember. I think until college, Kim was Sharpay's only real friend other than Ryan. Everyone else used her to get something. Maybe that's why other than her just being a horrible person, Darby was so frightened by you."

"I don't understand."

"I purposely designed the trust funds of both Ryan and Sharpay with a special catch. They will Receive complete control over their trust fund at age 25 or any time they get married after age 18."

"She just assumed because I wasn't born wealthy, I am a gold digger?"

"Who knows? I personally don't believe that." As Mr. Evans said this they walked right up to the room where Kim and Sharpay were enthusiastically talking with the instructor.

"So your boyfriend actually propose to you while you were being intimate?" The instructor asked Kim. Chad was too caught up in finding out his best friend got engaged without telling him to notice the shock look on Mr. Evans face.

"Why am I the last one to know about this?" Chad asked walking into the room and grabbing his girlfriend.

"You're not the last person we told. You are more like the fifth person we told."

"Tell me he gave you a ring." Sharpay asked excitedly.

"Not yet."

"Okay the engagement doesn't count until you actually get the ring. So hopefully this time he will propose fully clothed." Sharpay said to Kim.

"I would hope so." Mr. Evans called from the hallway.

"Daddy what are you doing here." Sharpay asked as she noticed her father for the first time. Chad could tell that she was tense as her fingernails dug into him so badly that she was almost almost drawing blood from his hand.

"I thought it would just stop by and scare your boyfriend a little. Then I thought we could go to dinner just the two of us."

"Sure," Sharpay said as she walked off with her father.

"I'm sure she's going to be okay. She will be text messaging you the entire time." Kim said to him as she picked up on his nervousness.

"I'm not that worried. I want to hear more about your engagement."

"The engagement thing was kind of a consequence. I am more excited about getting a brand new last name for my 21st birthday."

"The perfect present for someone who despises her last name."

"More like the perfect present for somebody who is not speaking to her father because he's a self-righteous idiot."

"You're still not speaking to your father?"

"Troy told you?"

"About most of what happened last weekend. Although, I think he left some very important things out."

"I will talk to my father as soon as he grows up. At least I have Vanessa as the good parent. By the way Vanessa is mad at you because her favorite pseudo clone of a niece is not coming home for Thanksgiving." He wasn't even going to ask why it was his fault. He was just going to accept responsibility.

"Clone of a niece?"

"For two people who are not related they look exactly alike. I didn't realize it before because I really didn't pay attention to other groups in high school."

"Maybe Taylor is a long lost relative." Chad said as a joke, yet for some reason Kim went completely pale.

* * *

They were at the Rose, one of Sharpay's favorite restaurants in the area. For the first time she could actually try out the full menu. She always wanted to try the black and blue filet Mignon, but never dared tried it with Darby around. Way too many calories to be safely consume around Darby.

"You usually only order a salad when we come here," Sharpay was shocked her father actually knew what she ordered when they went out to eat together. Maybe he did care.

"More like Darby would only let me order a salad when we came here."

"I didn't realize that."

"You didn't realize a lot of things." Sharpay said with a hint of bitterness.

"I know I wasn't there a lot. However, I do love you and your brother very much. I know I put my job ahead of you and Ryan too many times. You have no Idea how sorry I am. Now it's too late to try to make things better. You're both out of the house and grownup now. You don't need me anymore and when you did I wasn't there."

"Dad even though I'm technically an adult, I'm still going to need you to be there. I need my father."

"I promise that I will try harder from now on." He said grabbing her hand.

"Chad told me about the video cameras. Even though there's now footage of me and Chad doing something that I am glad that you didn't watch, I'm happy that the cameras were there. That showed me you actually cared. You were paying attention. I'm interested in what you're going to do about Darby."

"The lawyers are still working on that. Hopefully she'll be served that the papers before thanksgiving. As far as I'm concerned I never want to see her again."

"Good" Sharpay said as she hugged her father. "One final question, what did you do to my boyfriend that had him so petrified this afternoon?"

* * *

A/N: I actually took one of the lines in the sexual health seminar directly from one of the seminar's I took in college. For some reason, I ended up having to attend this mandatory seminar four times. Yes, in college I did lose a paper due to a voice-recognition software malfunction.

The next chapter will begin the Thanksgiving spectacular. Up first Troy comes back to New Mexico and Sharpay will spend the day with Chad's mother.


	19. Welcome Home Troy Bolton

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This begins the Thanksgiving arc of this story.

Chapter 19: Welcome Home Troy Bolton

Chad sat in the cell phone waiting area the Tuesday before thanksgiving waiting to pick up his best friend. It felt strange to realize that it has only been three months since Troy left for Berkeley. Everything was different now. Of course, the biggest difference was currently sitting in his car seat playing with his toy cars. At least this time Alex has been a good boy for his Uncle Chad, other than throwing things.

"You're still waiting for Troy to show up?"

"Yes and Alex just through a car at my head."

"I'm sure it just bounced off. Why did you bring Kim son with you to pick up Troy." Chad forgot that Ryan didn't know the big secret yet. Chad would not be the one to tell him. Instead, he chose a heavily edited version of the truth.

"Kim's nanny quit yesterday after Alex flushed her keys down the toilet. The agency refuses to give her a replacement two days before thanksgiving. Therefore, Alex and I get to do some serious male bonding while waiting for a plane to show up. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to keep him in his car seat the entire time."

"I'm so glad Taylor is taking the train. At least I can come into Penn station."

"Did you tell her about your dinner plans for tomorrow?

"No, I figured it would be best if it was a surprise."

"Did I mention how crazy I think it is to put her and the FMG in the same room together?"

"Only about 1000 times. Why do you hate Gabriella so much now? You guys were friends in high school."

"No, I tolerated her in high school because she was dating my best friend and she was my girlfriend's best friend. I personally didn't like her that much then and I really don't like her now." Chad said cryptically.

"Does this have anything to do with the real reason why Gabriella and Troy broke up?" Chad was definitely not answering that question.

"Hey, Ryan I have to go I'm getting another call. That might be Troy. I will talk to you later." Chad said switching to the incoming call.

"Troy I hope this is you, your son is getting very cranky. " Chad said without looking at the phone

"Sorry honey, wrong person."

"Hi mom. I'm just sitting in the cell phone waiting area for Troy to show up. Alex is already starting to throw things."

"Just remember this experience any time you think about doing something with your girlfriend without protection. You were already here, when I was your age."

"I think Mr. Evans threatening to castrate me if I ever forget to use a condom will prevent your early grandmother hood."

"He would not have threatened you if he didn't love her. Are you sure her father is ok with me staying at their house for a few days."

"It's fine, the house has like eight guest rooms and a guest house. He's not even going to be here. He's planning on surprising Ryan in New York tomorrow night." Chad may have neglected to tell Ryan about his other surprise guest at dinner. There is also the fact that during their father/future son in law bonding Chad told Mr. Evans exactly who posted that certain video file to the Internet. Ryan was going to have a very interesting day before thanksgiving.

"The house has multiple bedrooms. yet you always share a bed with Sharpay?" Chad was definitely not answering that.

"Sorry mom, I think that's Troy. I got to go. Sharpay will be picking you up from the Airport because I'll be dealing with dad."

"Chadwick Danforth don't you dare hang up his phone on me." Chad heard his mom yell as he quickly ended the call. When he heard the phone ring a few minutes later he assumed it was his mother calling to yell at him. He quickly grabbed the phone without looking knowing that if he kept her waiting, he would never hear the end of it tomorrow.

"Mom I really don't want to talk about my and Sharpay sleeping arrangements with a two year old in the backseat."

"I hope not, since it's my two year old in the backseat." It turned out it was Troy.

"All we do is sleep." Chad said defensively. The fact that they sleep with minimal clothes with an extreme amount of "touching" is something that Chad will not speak about with his best friend.

"That's not what I heard. According to Amanda and Kim, Mr. Evans scared the hell out of you at the sex health seminar. Supposedly he caught you with your hand in his daughter's cookie jar or rather your fingers inside his daughter's c…"

"Did I mention I have the phone on speaker right now? You may want to stop before you teach Alex a new word he can't repeat in public." The phone was not on speaker, but he was not going to tell Troy that.

"Alex, that is how to get out of conversations you don't want to have." Chad said after he ended the call.

* * *

"I thought the whole point of you going to Berkeley was to avoid a long distance relationship. Yet you somehow manage to get yourself in the same situation. At least I like this girlfriend." Chad said to Troy as they made their way to East High to see his father, Kim, and Sharpay.

During the ride from the Airport Troy sat in the back with his son watching the scenery passed by and catching up with his best friend. He missed his son and he definitely missed his best friend. Albuquerque had not change much except for a new Starbucks and a few more stores here and there. Yet he and Chad were not the same people they were three months ago. Besides the nicer clothing that Sharpay obviously bought, Chad was a lot more comfortable with being himself. In high school, Chad hid behind his super jock persona and Troy let him do it. He knew that Sharpay wasn't letting him get away with that anymore.

Then again he wasn't the same person either. He left here three months ago dating Gabriella and under the delusion that he could balance enacting major with basketball. Now he was a father of a 20-month-old child and engaged to the love of his life. He was also seriously contemplating if he wanted to play basketball at the collegiate level next season. There were other things more important to him like his son.

"The whole point of going to Berkeley was to go to a good drama school that I could play basketball at. At the time, the fact that Gabriella was going to school 40 miles away was just a bonus. Gabriella is the one who could not do a long distance relationship. I have no problem putting in the effort. She's pretty much disconnected herself from everyone except for Ryan." Troy said as he grabbed Alex shoes from the floor. He must have taken them off during the ride.

"The only reason Ryan is still talking to Gabriella is because I didn't tell him about Gabriella turning his sister and me into porn stars." Chad said angrily as he made the turn for the school.

"I personally can't wait to see what happens when he find out. However, that's beside the point. I feel that if you really love and care about someone beyond the superficial, you are going to be willing to work through your problems. I loved Kim and essentially she's my other best friend, so I'm going to do everything to stay with her. I know you already feel the same way about Sharpay. If Sharpay got into one of the top drama programs on the other side of the country you know that you be doing the exact same thing."

"You have a point there." Chad said as they pulled into the visitor parking lot at EHS.

"Do we need to transfer the car seat into Kim's car now or afterwards?" Troy asked as he started to get Alex out of his car seat.

"This is the car seat that Sharpay bought for this car. Kim has her own for the BMW. Don't forget to bring the diaper bag." Chad was reminding him to pick up his son's diaper bag and Sharpay was buying car seats for his son out of the goodness of her heart. He has truly entered the twilight zone.

"Your girlfriend bought my son a car seat to use when he is in her car?" Troy asked in shock as he placed Alex on the ground.

"She didn't know he was your son at the time. She bought him a car seat that we keep in the trunk. Alex spends a lot of time with us." It hurt Troy to think that his best friend and girlfriend spent more time with his son than he did.

It felt strange walking into the school for the first time since graduation with his son and best friend. He remembers coming here all the time when he was a little bit older than Alex. He used to dream about being a student here in playing on the basketball team. Now they were walking to the office to pick up their visitors pass so he could surprise his girlfriend. As soon as they made it through the doors of the office, Mrs. Rodriguez the principles assistant grabbed Troy into a hug. He has known the woman sense he was five years old.

"It's so good to see you back Troy. I'm sure you're here to see your father. Who is this little guy with you? " Mrs. Rodriguez said as she handed the visitor passes to Chad. Apparently Miss Rodrigues was never around when Kim brought Alex to the school. He could take the easy way out and say he was Kim son, but he didn't.

"This is my son Alex." As he said this, Mrs. Rodriguez dropped the lollipop that she was just about to give Alex. This was fine with Troy because his son does not do well with sugar. He could see the shock and disappointment in her eyes. Troy had a feeling he would be seen that look a lot over the next few days as he shatters the illusion of golden boy Troy Bolton. Before Mrs. Rodriguez recovered they were both making their way to Ms. Darbus is classroom.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to tell people that Alex is your son before you tell your mom? When are you going to tell her anyway?"

"I'm not going to lie about my son. We're planning on telling her tomorrow night anyway. As for other people knowing, people are already figuring it out. Taylor already knows.

"Troy, Taylor figured it out before Kim even told you." Chad said as they walked into the drama room. Alex ran out of his hand straight to Sharpay who was currently working with Kelsey sister on the scene.

"Aunt Pay," Alex cried as he was surrounded by teenage girls.

"This is not my son's first trip to drama class is it?" Troy asked Chad as he watched his son play around with the other students.

"With you and Kim as parents, Alex was born for the stage. Sharpay wants to put him in the spring musical." Chad said as he walked over to sharpay and kissed her. Troy seriously doubted the PDA policy was relaxed from last school year.

"I realize that you two haven't seen each other for about 3 hours. However, can you two please wait until the bell rings in 15 minutes to start groping each other in front of my class?" Ms. Darbus said sarcastically to the pair.

"Sorry, Ms. Darbus." they both said at the same time as they pulled apart.

"Are they always like this?" They were worse than him and Kim.

"Unfortunately, yes. The teachers are currently taking bets on when the wedding will take place. I have 100 on April. How was your first semester at Berkeley?

"Classes are great, everything else not so much."

"Let me guess this is more than normal freshmen blues. Let's take a walk. With Alex around, I doubt we will be able to finish the rest of this afternoon's performances."

5 minutes later he found himself center stage in the auditorium. "Let's talk about what's bothering you or would you prefer just to scream on stage at the top of your lungs?" He laughed that that. He remembered that night she caught him in here. Thinking about it now, he wondered if in her own way she was trying to get him back with Kim.

"Other than finding out that I'm a father at 18? Actually I was a father at 16. I just didn't know it for two years."

"I suppose that's the big issue." Ms. Darbus said as she sat next to him on the stage.

"The thing is it's really not. I don't think I understood what love was until I met my son. Alex is the only thing that is simple right now. Being responsible for someone else, now that's a very scary concept."

"Yes it is. At least I had nine months to prepare. From what I understand you were thrown into the deep end immediately."

"You have a child. I didn't know that."

"I have a daughter who is about two years older than your fiancé. I didn't start working here until after the divorce. Because my husband had the better lawyers, he ended up with full custody." He could hear the bitterness in her voice.

"Do you have advice for someone who's going to be shuttling their kid back and forth for the next year?"

"You and Kim are in a much better place than I was. From what I understand the only reason why you're not living with Kim is because she wants you to stay at Berkeley. The two of you love each other very much. That will be the only thing that's going to help you get through the next year."

"You're probably right; there are just all these other complications. I have a crazy ex girlfriend who still can't comprehend that we are not getting back together because I cannot trust her. I have a future father in law that hates me because I got his daughter pregnant when she was 18. There's also my mother who will probably kill me or Kim when she finds out about her new grand baby. I also get to tell everyone that I'm not as perfect as they think I am. Mrs. Rodriguez practically fainted when I told her about Alex. "

"Mrs. Rodriguez always overreacts. I would not use her reaction to gauge everyone. You just announced to my entire classroom that Alex was your child and not one of them said anything. We're all human. We all make question will decision sometimes. You have more important things to worry about. Worry about your son and your fiancé. Concentrate on getting through college. Everything else will fall into place."

"I guess you're right."

"Now you can tell me about how classes are going. Have you tried out for any plays yet?"

* * *

Kim looked at her watch for the 50th time as she observed the _honors 10 English class_. She knew that Troy's plane should have landed over an hour ago. He should either be on his way to the school or already there. As soon as the bell rang, she tried to run out of the room but Ms. Ortega stopped her. They needed to talk about next week's lesson plans. 10 minutes later she finally made it out of the room and accidentally ran into Jason McKessie.

"I'm sorry Jason I didn't see you there. I'm assuming Sharpay sent you to come get me."

"That's right Ms. Kim or should I say Ms Bolton?" Jason said with a smile.

"Where did you hear that?" They were trying to keep her new last name a secret until after Thanksgiving. She was not looking forward to explaining to the students how she can have a new last name and not actually be married to Troy. Maybe she should seriously consider doing her student teaching at West High.

"I overheard my dad talking to your dad a few weeks ago about his baby running off and getting married to Troy." Why did her dad always exaggerate things?

"Troy and I are not getting married any time soon. Although I am changing my last name, so Alex and I will have the same name." Kim said as they turned down the hall to Ms. Darbus is class room. She was so busy talking to Jason, she didn't notice the woman of her nightmares approaching her until it was too late.

"What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in New York." Lucille Bolton said to her in a very icy voice. Lucy must be there to see Jack for some reason.

"I had to move back due to family problems. As for why I am here at East High, I'm doing my student observations this semester. When I got to New York, I decided to be in education major instead of a drama major."

"The school is allowing a pedophile like you to be around children?" It looks like her future mother in law was taking the gloves off. If it wasn't for her promise to Troy, she would smack the woman upside the head. Instead, she tried her hardest to keep calm and neutral.

"If I was doing what I did with Troy with Jason, you can call me a pedophile. However, I am only two years and seven months older than Troy. I know you are upset that your son grew up a little bit faster than you expected him to, but that was not my fault. I love your son. Contrary to what you think, he loves me." Kim purposely used the present tense to prepare Lucille for what was about to come. "Whatever your problem is with me, you need to get over it." Kim said trying to walk away before she punched her son's grandmother.

"I don't know what you're trying, but Troy has moved on. He has a nice girl his own age, instead of some trashy ho like you." Kim had to literally bite her tongue to keep herself from saying something really stupid.

"He broke up with Gabriella over a month ago." Jason said under his breath. The look on Lucy's face was priceless. Did she really think she could bluff the two of them?

"How do you know about that? Besides this is just a break. I'm sure they'll get back together at any moment." Even Jason was laughing hysterically at that comment.

"My sister used to be best friends with Gabriella until Troy broke up with her for being an evil…" Kim cut him off before he could call Gabriella the word that truly describes the girl's personality.

"Jason McKessie, if you finish that sentence I will give you detention. Then I'll tell your mother. I doubt she will let you go to the basketball game tonight if you get in trouble for using dirty words at school."

"Yes Ms Bolton." Jason said in a condescending tone. As soon as the name was out of Jason's mouth, Lucy went completely pale. Why did Jason have to call her that? This is not good. Troy was supposed to be here when they broke the news to Lucy gently. This was not gentle.

"What did you call her?"

"Ms Bolton. That is her name. I mean you are aware that she's engaged to your son and is the mother of your only grandchild. She is taking the last name a little early. You didn't know? I'm sorry, I had no idea it was such a big secret." Jason said that in a way that shows he was anything but sorry. "Ms Bolton I'm going to go meet up with Sharpay right now."

That evil little 12 year old. How dare he dropped a bomb like that and leave her to defuse it by herself. He was so getting detention Monday. He was also getting his own very special English assignment. As Lucille started screaming every expletive known to man at her, Kim wondered if she could get away with forcing a 12 year old to read Camus.

* * *

Sharpay stood in the drama room waiting for Kim and Troy to show up. They would have to leave soon if they want to have dinner before Chad had to meet up with the team. Everyone else who was coming with them was already there.

Their punishment for the _Taming of the Drama Queen_ incident was to serve as mentors to at risk students. She was assigned to Kerri and Chad was assigned to Jimmy. They were both assigned to Jason. Because they were no classes tomorrow she was taking all three to watch Chad play tonight. After five more minutes, she asked Jason to go get Kim and sent a text message telling Troy to get over here now.

"Where is Kim?" Sharpay asked as Jason ran into the classroom.

"Currently being yelled at by Troy's mom in the hallway. Did you know, that she didn't know about Alex yet?" This is not going to be good Sharpay thought as she got off Chad's lap."

"Stay here with Alex." Sharpay told Jason as she grabbed Chad and walked out the door. As they walked in on the shouting match going on in the middle of the hallway they found Troy already there. When she saw the amount of screaming and yelling going on she was glad Alex would not see this. Mrs. Bolton reminded Sharpay of Darby at that moment.

"Why do you believe her? The child probably is not yours. We all know how she got around in high school." Lucy yelled at Troy. Sharpay personally wanted to deck the woman, but she felt Chad holding her back.

"You mean other than the fact that he looks exactly like me and we have all the same food allergies? Because we knew you see my girlfriend as the easiest person in Albuquerque, we got a DNA test. I personally did not need one because I know I am the only person that she has ever had sex with. Congratulations, you are a grandmother." Troy spat back in anger.

"So what if the little brat is yours. It's not your fault she trapped you. You don't owe her anything." Sharpay was not sure who was angrier at that comment Kim or Troy.

"You will never talk about my child like that ever again. That is my son who I love very much. I will do whatever I have two to protect my child from any threats, including you." Troy said yelling at his mom.

"Gabriella is a wonderful girl. How can you throw away a year and half long relationships?" Lucille spat bitterly at the pair

"Nothing I can say about Kim will ever change your opinion of her. I'm not even going to try mom. So let's talk about your precious Gabriella. Let's begin with the fact that during the first part of the school year she barely called or text messaged me."

"Everybody needs time to adjust to college life." Lucille said defensively.

"Gabriella's way of adjusting to college life is forgetting about her old life. Let's be honest she has always been like that. Do you remember when she dumped me two days before the prom because she couldn't deal with the possibility of a long distance relationship. What about when she left me at Lava Springs because I was focusing on something other than her. I was starting to grow up and she couldn't handle it."

"What about Kim leaving for New York without a phone call?"

"Let's talk about the fact that you forced her to go to New York without a phone call. Gabriella protects herself. Kim left to protect me from you. You don't think I know about that? You don't think I know about the role you played in keeping me away from my son for two years? I don't think I can ever forgive you for that."

"Honey I just feel Gabriella is a much better fit for you. She would never force you to do anything that you were not ready for." Sharpay found this part hilarious. Let's just say Gabriella Montez's attempts to bed Troy Bolton were legendary at EHS. Sharpay was never desperate enough to try half the stuff Gabriella did.

"Neither did Kim. Everything I did with Kim then and now is 100% consensual. Yes mom there is a now." Troy said sternly, looking his mother in the eyes.

"Like you two could have a relationship with out sex. I'm sure an oversexed bitch like you needs it all the time.

"Did she just call my best friend a bitch? I'm so going to kick her..." Sharpay whispered to Chad.

"Stay out of it," Chad whispered back.

"You're acting as if Gabriella was a sweet and innocent little virgin. Trust me, her cherry was popped long ago and I wasn't the one to do it. You're 'virginal' Gabriella has been sending me dirty text messages in an attempt to get back with me. Wait, she did that before we broke up. She also showed up to my dorm room two weeks ago in a trench coat."

"I'm sure she only resorted to that because she was competing against the likes of Kim." Sharpay wanted to laugh so badly. This woman was more delusional than Darby. She wasn't paying attention to anything Troy said.

"The real reason why I broke up with Gabriella had nothing to do with Kim. In her insane jealousy, she posted a very private video file of Chad and Sharpay to YouTube. That was after Saint Gabriella stole this file from my computer." Troy was screaming at his mother at this point. Sharpay didn't really know how to react to finding out that Gabriella was responsible for making her the laughing stock of New Mexico.

"Your ex bitch of a girlfriend did what?" Sharpay asked screaming at the top of her lungs as the shock wore off. This stopped the family argument instantly.

* * *

Chad sat in the Lexus with his girlfriend. Her body was still shaking with anger. After Troy accidentally let it slip that Gabriella was responsible for the almost sex tape incident Chad pulled Sharpay out of there before things got really bad. Sharpay had not said a word since her initial outburst 10 minutes ago. Her quietness scared him. The more she withdrawal from the situation, the more dangerous things could be. Finely her composure fell apart and her tears began to fall. Quickly he pulled her body against his and stroked her hair.

"I know she hated me. I know as far she is concerned; I tried to take her boyfriend several times. However, I never did anything like this to her. I never tried to humiliate her in front of the entire world. How could she do that to us?" She looked so heartbroken at this moment.

"I don't know Pay." He said as he gently kissed her forehead.

"How long did you know about this?"

"Once we realized that Troy's computer was the only place someone could have stolen the file from, Gabriella became the most likely suspect. Even you thought it could be her remember. I didn't know for sure until Troy told me that she confessed to the entire thing and didn't feel guilty."

"You let her get away with it so far." She said with a touch of anger.

"I don't consider Troy breaking up with her as getting away with it. I also told your father what happen. He will be dealing with it tomorrow when he sees her in New York. Let your dad take care of this one."

"I still want to beat the hell out of her." As she said the words Chad pulled her in for one of his earth shattering kisses. She completely forgot her Gabriella blood lust as Chad's mouth melted with hers.

* * *

After the showdown at the high school, Troy didn't feel like joining anybody for dinner. Things got worse after Chad pulled Sharpay from the hallway. Things got so bad Troy doubted if he and Kim will be attending Thanksgiving dinner with his mom. The situation deteriorated dramatically once his dad arrived. His parents proceeded to get into a 23 minute argument about how his father kept Kim's reappearance a secret from her. Things got so bad that his father was currently hiding at Kim's house under the pretense of babysitting Alex. He really didn't care what his mother said. He stopped trying to be the person that everyone expected him to be a long time ago. Maybe if he did it three years ago things would be a lot less complicated

If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to see his best friend play, he would probably stay home. Considering how much Chad hated playing for the team now, he needed all the encouragement he could get. He remembered coming here when he was young and dreaming about playing for his father's alma mater. At some point that stop being his dream. He wanted to be his own person.

So far he's had six different people throw things at him and someone yell out trader. Let's just say some hardcore Red Hawk fans are upset about him choosing a different school.

"I have no idea they took basketball so seriously here." Troy said as he removed the bald up piece of paper from his hair.

"You should hear half the stuff they say to Chad. That is the number one reason why he is considering not playing next year. If it is this bad now I hate to see what is going to happen when Berkeley comes to play in February."

"Another thing to look forward to." Troy said sarcastically as they made their way to the seats. They were sitting just one roll behind the A of U bleachers.

"Just forget about them and enjoyed the game tonight." Kim said as she sat down next to Sharpay. She was dressed in a very tight fitting at A of U shirt and blue jeans. Troy didn't even think Sharpay Evans own a pair of jeans. Jimmy, Kelsey sister, Taylor's brother, and some girl he didn't know was sitting in front of them.

"It looks like you actually have friends in college." Troy said jokingly as he sat next to Kim and put his arm around her.

"I decided to try being a human being instead of a bitch this school year and it has paid off." Sharpay said with a smile. "Let me introduce you to everyone. The two crazy ones over there are Nikki and Marc. There just here to cheer on Amanda."

"She's the cheerleader trying to kill Penelope." Marc said pointing to their friend. He definitely wanted to meet Sharpay and Chad's long suffering roommate in person after the game.

"Do you know that at the last away game, she tried to jump my boyfriend in his hotel room? I'm so going to kick her ass."

"Now that's the girl I remember from school." Troy mumbled under his breath.

"Speaking of high schoolers, I'm sure you probably don't remember anybody in front of us except for Jimmy. That's Kelsey Sister Jackie and her best friend Kerri. Next to them is Jason McKessie, the boy who is single-handedly responsible for pudding principle Matsui in the hospital for two days after the great play incident."

"If you and Chad didn't make out whenever you're in the same room, it would not have worked." Jason said in a whiny voice.

"Let's not forget Jason is also responsible for telling your mom about my new last name, our engagement and her grandbaby this afternoon." Troy looked over at the boy in front of him. He seemed to be the complete opposite of his sister in every way. They didn't even look alike.

"You are the one who told my mom about Alex?" Troy asked Jason.

"I didn't know, that she didn't know." Jason said in his defense.

"She was trying to pass off Gabriella as Troy's current girlfriend to me. That was a big sign right there." Kim answered quickly.

"I thought she was just being delusional." He agreed with Jason, but he wasn't gonna say anything.

"No more talk about crazy parents till after the basketball game." Sharpay said sternly as she began cheering Chad on. Sharpay was screaming at the top of her lungs every time Chad was on the court. Troy noticed that Chad had a lot more playing time then he did.

"Half the fun of coming to a basketball game with her is watching her cheer on Chad. A week and ½ ago when some guy fouled Chad and she started screaming so loudly that Mr. Evans had to take her outside. She is definitely a super fan." Kim said kissing him.

"She never acted like this in high school with Zeke. Actually I don't think she ever made it to a basketball game."

"That's probably because she wasn't in love was Zeke in high school. Wasn't he the weird guy who was always hiding in the library reading cooking books? Besides from what I heard he slept with Penelope. Anybody who goes for trash like Penelope over someone like Sharpay, does not deserve her as their number one fan." Kim said as she placed her head on Troy shoulder.

"As for never showing up to a game in high school, Darby was too busy turning me into her second chance at a Broadway career. Speaking of parent's you really don't want to see again, I think your father is here Kim." Troy turned around to see Mr. Kim behind him.

"Daddy what are you doing here?"

"I thought we could talk before tomorrow and I figure things would go more smoothly if we were in a public place.

"I don't know. That didn't help last time."

"Kim go talk to your father." Troy whispered into her ear.

"Fine let's talk. " Kim said as she let go of her boyfriend.

* * *

Kim walked with her father in the outer loop of the arena. She had no idea why Troy was making her talk to her father to night. Wasn't one shouting match today enough?

"If you're gonna yell at me can we please wait a few days. One crazy parents screaming at me is enough for the moment."

"Your mom didn't show up early did she?" Kim could hear the worry in her father's voice. Just the thought of seeing the woman again made Kim shiver.

"God I hope not. I don't want to see her tomorrow, but I know I have to. No the crazy parent I have to deal with was Troy's mom, not mine. She called me a pedophile 15 times and said some things so bad about Alex that I refuse to repeat them." Kim felt like she was about to cry as she said these things to her father. Unexpectedly, she felt his arm go around her.

"I'm sorry,"

"Why should you be sorry? You have said some pretty bad things yourself over the last few years." Kim said with a touch of anger and pain.

"I am Sorry about that too. I didn't realize how difficult a position you were in. I was worried about the wrong things."

"Yet you still told Mr. McKessie about Troy stealing your baby girl."

"In my defense I was slightly drunk at the time. That was also before Vanessa and I had a very long talk."

"So she finely told you everything that happened with mom in New York."

"I have long been aware that your mother is a very evil person. No, Vanessa told me all about DC and the senior partner in the spring of 1989." Kim found a surprising because Vanessa never talked about 1989.

"Even though I was a lot younger than her, I had a much easier situation. I know that you and mom never believed it, but at least I knew that Troy loved to me."

"I know he loves you and I am sorry for making you think otherwise. I think I just needed time to get used everything."

"Does this mean you're ready to walk me down the aisle?"

"As long as it is in 2011, I still think you're too young to be getting married. However as possible husbands go, you could have done a lot worse."

"That's why we are waiting 2 ½ years. Do you want to come watch a basketball game with us?

* * *

Sharpay watched Troy looking anxiously at the outer loop. She didn't remember him being this protected with Gabriella.

"Stop worrying Troy. If things are really going badly we could hear them from here. Sit back and relax. This had to be a first for you, watching Chad play without you."

"It's no more surreal than anything else today. Since arriving in New Mexico I've realized that my mom doesn't care about my happiness, you're a force for good who my son refers to as Aunt Pay, and Chad actually hates playing basketball. The world has gone completely mad."

"Chad hates playing basketball with his teammates. That is a completely different thing. He likes playing with me."

"That's because when you two play, you allow him to take your clothes off." That comment earned him a snack on the arm. Just because it's true, didn't mean Troy had to say it out loud.

"Not in front of the children," Sharpay said in a whisper.

"I doubt we would be teaching these children anything new. Do you realize 12 year old Jason is hiting on a 15 year old Kerri?"

Sharpay was just happy that Troy didn't notice the little triangle going on between the high school freshman, the college freshman, and the basketball captain. Then again Troy was also oblivious to Jimmy's crush on him last year. She would definitely have to talk to Marc about hitting on the underage basketball player. Not that she can say anything, because technically she has been doing very inappropriate things with a certain 17 year old basketball player. She could not wait until Chad was legal.

"I'm not worried, she's a safety crush. Nothing is going to happen." Sharpay whispered low enough so only Troy could hear her. "It's not that bad, there in the same grade. It is not as if he can be with girls his own age. Psychologically he is a lot older than they are. Remember, Chad had the same problem. That is why he was always dating older girls. I wouldn't get so high and mighty because there's only a 2 years and five month age difference."

"When he is 15 and she's 18, I promise I won't say anything." Troy said with a laugh.

"Let's just hope he doesn't do what you did. Anyway I think I owe you a thank you." Sharpay was sure she just made Troy go speechless.

"This is another one of those surreal things that I was talking about earlier." Troy told her in shock.

"I'm saying thank you because you broke up with Gabriella for what she did to me and Chad. Up until three months ago, I think Kim was the only friend I had. I know you probably did it mostly for Chad, but thank you."

"I consider you to be a friend and not just because you're dating Chad. It probably helps that you're on not chasing after me anymore." He said with a laugh.

"If you would have told me you were in love with Kim I would a stop chasing you earlier and bought you a first class ticket to New York."

"You were going to shipped Troy first class to me. You are like the best friend ever." Kim said as she sit between Troy and Sharpay, placed, an arm around each one of them.

"Are you okay," Sharpay asked her friend.

"I'm fine, just the normal father daughter bonding. My dad is coming back up and a few minutes he just went to get popcorn. Troy, your hands need to stay visible for the rest of the game."

* * *

On Wednesday morning, Troy made his way past the boxes of Kim's soon to be former roommate with a breakfast tray in hand. Alex was following him as usual. They just returned from a quick trip IHOP and the grocery store. He wanted to make Kim breakfast in bed but realized his cooking skills would most likely land his girlfriend in the hospital. He definitely wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before he had to leave Sunday

Things went surprisingly well with Kin's father at the basketball game. They even went for coffee afterwards. He was much more worried about the situation with his mother. He knew that Kim was very upset by what happened yesterday, even though she hadn't said much about it. He just hoped to day would be better. Last night was definitely an improvement even though they only got about 3 hours of sleep.

He walked into their bedroom to see Kim dressed in the pajamas that he laid out for her. Obviously, she found his note.

"I thought we would surprise you with breakfast in bed on your 21st birthday. I was originally planning to do this with you completely naked, but Alex decided he wanted to help. So the fun part of your present will have to be rescheduled for later today." Troy said kissing her quickly.

"I'm looking very forward to that Mr. Bolton. I personally want to see if we can outdo our Vegas record of 15 times in a 38-hour period. Although, I'm not thinking of today as my birthday. I'm thinking of it as my emancipation day. I am finally free. Free of the Kim last name and free of the last things that connected me to a family that didn't appreciate me.

"I thought you made peace with your father last night."

"Not quite, however, we're getting there. We still have a very long way to go. Most likely Vanessa is going to have to play mediator. She's always been really supportive." Kim said this as she took a bite of her pancakes.

"I've been meaning to ask you why your stepmom is so helpful with Alex, when your biological parents were not."

"Because my biological parents have never been in my shoes, Vanessa has." Kim told him as Alex grabbed one of her pancakes, even though Troy fed him before they came up here

"What?" Troy asked her in surprise.

"Pull up a pillow. This is going to be a long story. What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room. You cannot even repeat this to Chad, Sharpay, or Taylor. Vanessa did not tell my father this story until a couple of weeks ago."

"I promise," he said putting his arm around her and kissed her quickly.

"Sometime around the late eighties, Vanessa was working as a paralegal at one of the top law firms in the DC area to pay her way through law school. During that time, she fell in love with one of the partners who just happen to be married. They had an affair that lasted about two years. She loved him, but he didn't love her. One day the condom broke and she ended up pregnant. He offered her money to get rid of the baby. When she said no, he tried to get her expelled from law school if she didn't take care of the problem. He tried some other things that Vanessa wouldn't tell me about. Eventually their compromise was she would give her daughter up for adoption and never contact him again. That's why she helped me so much to keep Alex. She did not want me to go through what she did."

"I am glad she was there. I don't know what I would do without the two of you." He said kissing her softly before placing a gentle kiss on their son's forehead. He was very happy that Vanessa was there to help Kim when he wasn't.

"Troy there's more to this story. Could you grab the photo album on top of the dresser?" Troy quickly did what Kim asked.

"Why do you have a picture of Taylor dressed in eighties clothes?" Troy asked as he looked down at the picture that Kim showed him.

"That's not Taylor. That is a picture of my stepmom in high school."

To be continued in part two: The Parent/Child Trap

* * *

I know I said last week that Chad's mother would be in this. However, in the interest of avoiding another 10,000 word chapter that material will be in the next chapter. The next chapter will be loaded with Chadpay goodness.


	20. Human Nature

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I did end up going with a different chapter title.

While writing this chapter, I realized there was too much going on in Albuquerque to switch back to Ryan and Taylor in New York. Therefore Ryan, Taylor, and Gabriella have their own story Called Gabriella Ryan Taylor Manhattan.

* * *

Chapter 20: Human Nature

Sharpay lay in her boyfriend's arms in those few minutes before her alarm would go off. She loved being with him like this. In those first few moments of the day, she felt completely safe and loved. She was absolutely petrified about what was to come today and tomorrow. Over the next two days not only would she be meeting Chad's parents, but Also his entire extended family.

Although she is sure that things will be much calmer here than what her brother' is facing in NYC. Due to her brother ignorance of Gabriella's true nature, he invited Gabriella to stay with him and Taylor this weekend. He never told anybody about this. Sharpay found out about the whole mess when Taylor text messaged her about Ryan's stupidity. They spent half an hour sending messages about the Stupid guys in their life and various ways they wanted to tortured Gabriella.

"What are you thinking about?" Chad asked as he placed a kiss on her neck and his hands went underneath the T-shirt that she was wearing. This got Sharpay out of her musings.

"I thought you were still asleep." Sharpay said as she turned around to look at him.

"I just like being with you when you are like this." he said placing a kiss on her collarbone." You are usually so peaceful in the morning, but not today."

"I'm just thinking about meeting your parents today."

"You have met my parents before. You even survived a post divorce lunch. Even Troy ran out of the last one screaming."

"I wasn't your girlfriend back then. I was just someone you went to high school with that you absolutely despised." She says this with a mock pout.

"I did not hate you. I just couldn't decide if I wanted to kill or kiss you." Chad said as he played with the hem of her T-shirt.

"I personally prefer the kissing." Sharpay said as she placed her mouth on his. Just as she felt Chad begin to take off her T-shirt, she heard voices in the hallway.

"Can you two please stop making out or having sex or whatever you're doing in there. We have to leave for the Airport in an hour." A very annoyed Amanda call from the hallway. "There's also no food in this house and I would really like to get a muffin on the way there. We don't have time for you and Chad to have fun this morning."

"It looks like it's time to get up." Chad said as he kissed her on the forehead and pulled her top back down.

"I don't want to." Sharpay said pulling Chad back down on top of her and began kissing him again.

"If you guys are not out here getting ready in 5 minutes I swear I will go in there. I don't care if I walk in you guys doing certain things." This time it was Nikki yelling at them through the door.

"Go ahead. Maybe we can finally verify the bet." Marc called from the other side.

"You are just mad you lost $200 because they didn't do anything on Halloween." Amanda yelled at Marc.

"If it was 'anything' somebody would have already won. Unfortunately, we were specific." Marc said to the other two so loudly that Chad and Sharpay could hear inside.

"Why did we invite them to stay over, so they wouldn't have to take a late flight yesterday?" Sharpay asked Chad as she walked over to her bedroom door.

"You are a kind person." Chad said following her.

"As you can see we're fully clothed. Can you please stop your random speculation? Will be ready to leave in 45 minutes just let me take a shower." Sharpay said as she threw the door open.

"One of Chad's T-shirts does not count as being fully dressed, especially when Chad is topless and has a hard on." Amanda said the last part low enough that only Chad and Sharpay heard her. Sharpay just gave her a 'why are you looking at my boyfriend's privates' look. The look was scary enough to make the other three leave.

"I will go get ready in Ryan's room and you stay here. If I stay, you definitely will not be getting dressed." Chad said kissing her one more time before he went next door.

* * *

Two hours later Sharpay sat in the cell phone waiting area with Amanda by her side in the convertible. They successfully dropped off Marc and Nikki a half an hour ago.

In an effort to avoid the fighting that occurred when Chad moved into the dorms, she and Chad were going to do everything possible to keep the Peace. This meant keeping Chad's mother and father from seeing each other this entire holiday weekend. Chad's mom would be arriving at the Airport exactly one hour before Chad's father. Chad's mother would ride back to the house with Sharpay and Chad would pick up his father. Chad's mother would be staying with them at the mansion in the guesthouse. Chad's father would be staying at a local hotel on the other side of town. They will be having lunch with his mother this afternoon and dinner with his father tonight.

At 10:00 AM Tomorrow, they would drive Chad's father over to his aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner which will begin promptly at 11. They will leave at 12:30 PM and meet Chad's Mom at his grandmother's house at 1:00 PM. At 3:00 PM, they will leave for a very Bolton Thanksgiving. That thanksgiving is currently TBD. It all depends on if certain members of the Bolton family are speaking to each other by tomorrow. From what she gathered from Kim, no one is talking to Mrs. Bolton at the moment.

Chad and Sharpay plan for peace this holiday season fell apart before either parent arrived at the Airport. Ms. Sanchez's flight was delayed 65 minutes. This meant her flight would arrive exactly 5 minutes after Chad's father gets here.

Chad's father came out of the airport first. Unfortunately, he was not alone. He was with a very pregnant woman who couldn't be older than Kim wearing an outfit that was not maternity appropriate. Even a pregnant prostitute would wear more clothing.

"This isn't good." Sharpay said out loud as she looked back to the car behind her to see Chad's very angry face.

"It doesn't mean anything. Maybe he's just helping her with her bags." Amanda said trying to calm Sharpay down.

"Yes and she's thanking him by sticking her tongue down his throat." Sharpay said sarcastically as she pointed to the obvious couple. She looked back to see her boyfriend in absolute shock. He wasn't moving or screaming. This was not good. When Ms. Sanchez walked out just in time to witness the entire scene Sharpay knew this was going to be a disaster.

* * *

Caroline Sanchez was happy to be going back home. Although she now lived in DC, she will always think of Albuquerque as home. She missed her son and her friends very much. She wanted to spend the holiday with her baby and his new girlfriend. From conversations with her son, she knew that this relationship was a lot more serious than his last one. The only thing she wasn't looking forward to was spending time around her ex husband.

The plan was for her to come out for Thanksgiving and for Charles to visit at Christmas. Instead, at the last minute Charles decided to come up for Thanksgiving as well. Just like in their marriage, Charles never stuck to his word. She could deal with being in close contact with her ex husband for short periods of time. What she could not deal with was the barely legal very pregnant girl making out with her ex husband as their son watched in horror.

She knew from Chad's expression that Charles never told Chad about Tiffany. She never told Chad the real reason why she and his father divorced. She let Chad think it was just irreconcilable differences and another casualty of marrying way too young for the wrong reasons. That was part of the reason why their marriage didn't work. The main reason was that Charles had an affair with a barely legal Tiffany for almost two years before the divorce. Now it looks like her son would be having a new half sibling.

"Considering our child is going into cardiac arrest, I assume you never told him about Tiffany?" She said bitterly as she walked over to the car.

"We're not together anymore Caroline. What I do doesn't concern you." She laughed at that.

"Anything involving my son concerns me." She said in an icy tone to the man.

"He is my son to." Charles said to her in an angry voice.

"You have a funny way of showing it. You show up with your little pregnant girlfriend Tiffany, without preparing him. That's just a wonderful way to tell Chad that he's going to be a big brother." Caroline said sarcastically as she gave Tiffany the glare of death. For some reason Tiffany actually looked more ashamed than Charles did.

"Stop it," Sharpay yelled from beside the bickering group. "You are both here to spend time with your child. Stop arguing and act like adults."

"She started it." Her ex husband replied much the same way a two year old would.

"No you started it by showing up with very knocked up Barbie." Caroline said to her ex.

"I think she looks more like a very knocked up Christina, you know Barbie's African American friend with the very fake hair. I guess it doesn't matter they're both fake and plastic." This was said by the girl putting her bags into the blue convertible.

"Who are you?" Tiffany asked the girl.

"I'm Sharpay's roommate Amanda. Who are you, the future step monster?"

"That's a horrible thing to say Amanda. Kim has an excellent stepmother." Sharpay whispered under her breath just loud enough for Caroline to hear.

"That is Charles's special friend Tiffany." Caroline said with as much venom as she could muster. During this entire time Chad did not move once from the car.

"Okay let's just stop fighting and get out of here before security comes out." Sharpay said throwing her keys to Amanda. "Ms. Sanchez you'll be riding with Amanda. Mr. Danforth and Tiffany, Chad and I will be dropping you off at your hotel."

15 minutes later, Caroline was riding into town with the girl she didn't know.

"I thought I was supposed to be riding with Sharpay."

"You were. However, she could pick up that Chad couldn't be alone with his father. She was so worried about Chad, she's letting me drive the convertible. Sharpay doesn't let her brother drive this car. She only lets Chad drive the car because it is technically in his name." Her son was dating this girl for less than three months and she already had property in his name. Caroline was very worried about the type of relationship her son was in.

* * *

Kim sat on the couch with her future father in law drinking her second cup of coffee for the day. At least this one was drinkable. She loved Troy, but he could not make coffee.

They were listening to the sounds of Troy trying to get Alex ready. Part three of her gift was she had the day off. He would be doing all dishes, all laundry, and practically everything involving Alex today. So far he wasn't doing so well.

"Shouldn't you go help him?" Jack asked her.

"If he's not down here in 30 minutes, I'll go up. He is trying to give me the day off for my birthday. So far he has managed to break a coffee maker and ruin the comforter. I think the comforter was done on purpose because he does not want anything in our bedroom with a floral print."

"I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the concept that you two are dating again and have a child together. I know that technically this is my son's new permit address. Even though I like you, I just need time to get used to everything. You guys are going a little fast."

"At least one parent actually likes me." Kim said sadly.

"Lucy was just shocked by everything going on. I'm sure when she gets to know you, things will be better."

"She called me a pedophile, a child molester, and a bitch, as well as, four variations on the term prostitute in six different languages. The woman hates me and I accept that. I'm more worried about what this is doing to you and Troy."

"I'll be fine. I've been married to her for 20 years and I'm used to this type of behavior. Just worry about Troy."

"Don't give me that line. I lived through Kim vs. Kim. That was the most messy divorce in Albuquerque history. I can tell when a marriage is falling apart a mile away." Kim said in a very low voice hoping that Troy wouldn't hear.

"I don't think things are that bad yet."

"You were able to go to Las Vegas with me for a weekend without her asking questions. Alex is with you all the time and she was never around to see him. How bad are things?"

"I slept on the couch again last night and snuck out of the house this morning before she got up."

"That explains why you're here an hour and a half early for the lawyers. If things get really bad we have a guest room if you need it. Actually we have two now because my roommate just moved out.

"Why did she move out?"

"It is a very long dysfunctional story. Let's just say it involves Alex, grape Kool-Aid, and a white dress. I really don't want to talk about it. Just remember this is Troy's house too or will be as soon as he signs the papers. You are always welcome here." Kim said passing a key to him. "Troy wanted you to have a copy anyway since he wouldn't be here a lot for the next couple of months."

"Thank you." Jack said as he took the key from her.

"Your wife on the other hand, not so much."

"I assume you and Troy are not coming tomorrow?" Jack asked in disappointment.

"We will come as soon as your wife apologizes for what she said about our son. You are invited to a very Kim/McKessie Thanksgiving tomorrow morning. It will give you more time to hide from Lucy and certain family members that you don't like. This year Vanessa is hosting for the first time." Before Jack could reply to her Troy came down the stairs carrying a fully dressed Alex.

"See I told you I could get him dressed. I don't know why you were so worried." Troy said as he handed Alex over to Kim.

"It only took you 45 minutes. The only problem is he is wearing the suit Sharpay bought him for tomorrow. He is supposed to be wearing the periwinkle suit today."

"My son is not wearing a pink suit."

"It's not pink, it's periwinkle. Ryan wears pink."

"Yes but it's Ryan. He can pull it off." She can hear Jack laughing in the background as they argue about the suit.

"Fine, I guess he can where the black pinstriped suit tomorrow that Sharpay bought him. It will go good with the little Italian loafers that Sharpay got him as well." Her boyfriend started laughing hysterically when she mentioned the loafers.

"Why are you laughing? Do you have the same issue with Italian shoes that Chad does? That's the only thing he won't let Sharpay buy him."

* * *

How exactly do you react when you find out that your father is a complete bastard that only cares about himself? What do you do when you realize the man you idolized for a good portion of your childhood was never worthy of your adoration? Chad would ask Sharpay how she dealt with Darby, but there was a distinct difference in this situation. Sharpay never had a positive image of Darby.

Chad knew his father was not perfect. He did many things that Chad didn't like. He didn't call Chad that much. Since starting college, Chad only spoke to his father a few times. He also left Chad home a lot when he lived with the man during senior year. Now he wondered if the woman sitting on his father's lap and carrying his half sibling was responsible for his father's lapse in parenting.

Chad never expected his father the pull something like this. Chad didn't know what he was more upset about the fact that his father was having a child with his new girlfriend or the fact that his father did not even bother to tell him. The man just showed up to Thanksgiving with his very pregnant girlfriend in tow. The icing on the cake, was his father's very young girlfriend was a member of the East high class of 2005. It took Chad a few minutes to remember that technically, he actually went to high school with Tiffany. She graduated the year he was a freshman and the only thing he remembered about her was she tried to hit on Troy's father more than once.

The thing that was most upsetting was his father expected him just to accept things. Chad was not accepting this situation. His quietness was caused by his extreme shock and anger. The only thing he said in the last 20 minutes was "thank you" to Sharpay when she pulled him out of the driver's seat and took the keys. He was in no condition to drive and he loved her for picking up on his anguish without him saying anything to her.

By some miracle Sharpay manage to make small talk with his father and Tiffany. She avoided all the hard questions such as "Why didn't you tell us about my new half sibling?" He still learn several very interesting things about Tiffany. She's currently a senior at a private university in Cleveland and is a premed major. She went to school there because she wanted to live closer to her sick grandmother who died last April.

It was obvious that Tiffany was more than three months pregnant. This meant that this occurred before Chad lived in the dorms. Thankfully, his girlfriend asked the one question he really wanted the answer to.

"Tiffany, how far along are you?"Sharpay asked as they turned into the driveway for the hotel.

"Almost seven months, but it feels like forever. I guess that is what happens when you're having twins. I hope this place has an elevator, I hate stairs." That would mean this took place in April. That was when his father was taking business trips to Cleveland almost every other week.

This made Chad very angry. His father had four months to tell him about this pregnancy. For months, Chad had breakfast every day with this man any never said a word. He never said anything about a girlfriend. He definitely never mentioned anything about getting someone else pregnant. That is when Chad realized that he would be having two new siblings, instead of one. He almost fainted at that realization.

"Don't worry I'm sure they'll be able to accommodate you. I'll be back At 6:30 PM to pick you guys up for dinner." Sharpay said in a voice she normally reserved for Gabriella. The moment his father and his half siblings' mama were safely inside the hotel, Chad finally let out a scream.

"Do you feel better now?" Sharpay said grabbing his hand.

"Not really. I can't believe this. Not only does he get someone else pregnant, he doesn't tell me. Instead, he just shows up to the airport with the new girl. This should not have happened. Did he think of using condoms, birth control pills, or even the morning after pill?"

"Are you done ranting yet?." Sharpay said as she pulled the car out of the parking lot and onto the road. He puts his hand back on her thigh as he did their entire drive to the hotel.

"My father knocked-up somebody who may or may not be old enough to drink. She is Kim's age. My best friend's baby's mama should not be older than my father's baby's mama. My father is fucking a child." Chad said in a cross between screaming and crying.

"Considering she graduated a year ahead of Kim, I'm sure she is older, even if just by a few months." Sharpay said trying to make him feel better. It was not working.

"That's beside the point. My dad's girlfriend went to high school with us. That in itself is a very disturbing concept. My best friend has a son that will be older than my new brothers or sisters."

"That is only because your best friend got his girlfriend pregnant at 15. You cannot use that as a justification to automatically hate Tiffany."

"That also brings up the point that my father is old enough to be her father."

"What are you most upset about?"

"I am going to go with everything. He lied to me for months. I did the math. She was already pregnant in April. That was way before I stayed with mom in DC. That was even before the senior musical. He could have told me."

"Maybe she didn't tell him until he moved to Cleveland. This isn't the type of thing you break over the telephone."

"Yes, but finding out by watching your father making out with the new girlfriend in front of the airport isn't the best way either. I can count on one hand the amount of times I've talked to him on the phone in the last three months. Every time I call he's not there or too busy to talk. Now I know why he was too busy." Chad said bitterly.

"Look on the bright side. Despite this little stunt, your family is still less dysfunctional than mine." Sharpay said as they pulled into the parking lot of Specialty Foods of Albuquerque.

"Sharpay my dad would have needed to start dating Tiffany when she was 15 to compete with your family. That thought just makes me sad. Why are we here at the grocery store?" Chad said as he finally noticed where they were.

"First, I doubt your mom wants to live on a diet of takeout for the next five days. The other reason is the best thing for a situation this bad is foods with a high caloric intake."

"You're like the best girlfriend ever." He said kissing her.

"I'd better be. I just let Amanda drive the convertible so I could accompany you on your little nervous breakdown."

* * *

"I'm fine with whatever is in the house. I don't really need anything special." Chad's mother said to Amanda as they walked through the store.

"The problem is there is nothing in the house. Sharpay's parents are not using the house at the moment. Chad and Sharpay only go there on the weekends sometimes. Even then they mostly live off of takeout." Amanda said as she threw some fruit into the cart.

"Why doesn't that surprise me? My son barely knows how to boil water in the microwave."

"At least Chad knows how to use a microwave. Last week Sharpay caught the microwave on fire when she reheated a grilled chicken sandwich. Apparently no one told her that aluminum foil could not go in the microwave."

"Because they have someone who can actually cook this week, they want real food in the house?"

"I think it's more they want your famous pumpkin pie cheesecake."

"So do I," called a voice that Amanda never heard before.

"Zeke is that you. I haven't seen you since I came up for Chad's graduation."

"It's good to see you. Are you here to see Chad?"

"I'm staying at his girlfriend's house for a few days. You probably don't know Amanda; she's the roommate of Chad's new girlfriend."

"I thought Taylor went to Yale?" It took Amanda a few minutes to realize who Ms. Sanchez was talking to. This was Sharpay's Zeke. This was the person who cheated on her for months with Penelope. This was the guy who ditched Sharpay on prom night when she had a panic attack in the driveway.

"Apparently you missed the phrase new girlfriend in that sentence. You are Sharpay Zeke right? You're the guy that actually chose the super evil Penelope over the absolutely fabulous Sharpay Evans." Amanda said as nastily as possible.

"I don't think I've ever heard Sharpay Evans referred to as absolutely fabulous except by Sharpay Evans."

"I'm Sharpay's roommate." Amanda said with hands on her hips and ice in her voice

"I feel sorry for you for having to deal with two roommates. I can barely deal with one and my roommate isn't as demanding as Sharpay."

"I only have one roommate. Not that she is there that often. She usually spends the night with her boyfriend. They like to cuddle. Actually they cannot even be in a room together without making out." She threw that part in to get back at the guy for hurting her friend.

"I thought you said she was the roommate of Chad's girlfriend?"

"Now I know how Chad fooled everyone in high school. If you can't put the clues together, I'm not going to help you. Although maybe a vision of the happy couple will finely kick start that brain of yours." Amanda said as she pointed to Chad and Sharpay who were pushing a cart in the cereal aisle. As usual Chad and Sharpay were all over each other. Zeke still didn't put the pieces together until Chad started kissing Sharpay in an effort to convince her to let him get the extra sugary cereal that he wanted.

Before Amanda had time to warn the oblivious two, Zeke punched Chad in the face. Apparently Zeke did not know about his ex girlfriend's martial arts abilities. Within seconds, Sharpay had him pinned to the floor. Amanda was positive Sharpay punctured one of his testicles with her shoe.

"Seriously why are you punching out my boyfriend in a grocery store? The last time I heard, you broke up with me because I didn't feel like being pressured to do something I didn't want to do. Of course, this is after you most likely contracted a STD from Penelope. How safe could you have been, hooking up in the locker room after games? You remember telling me about the BJ she gave you. Of course that was after Penelope told me all about everything you did with her. I mean everything." Ms. Sanchez quickly pulled Sharpay off of Zeke.

As soon as sharpay was off Zeke, he tried to punch Chad again. This time Chad hit back. It took three security guards and two cops to break up the fight.

* * *

Troy sat with Kim in the lawyer's office waiting for her mother. He only met the woman a few times. Troy purposely repressed any interaction with his son's grandmother. His father and Kim's father and stepmother were already there. It took all the Troy's of energy not to ask Vanessa about what he learned this morning. She really did look like an older version of Taylor. They were just waiting for the lawyers and the former Mrs. Kim to arrive. However, she never did.

"Where's my mother? I'm sure she wanted one last opportunity to humiliate me." Kim asked her mother's lawyer as he walked in to the law offices.

"She's not coming," her mother's lawyer said.

"What does she think by not showing up she can stop me from inheriting the trust fund."

"You gain control regardless. She did ask me to give you and your son's grandfather a letter."

"What on earth does your mother want to say to me? I only met her a few times?" Jack said in surprise as he picked up the letter from the lawyer.

"She didn't say. She just requested that you open them after we're done here."

"Is there anything else before I sign the papers?" His girlfriend said to the lawyer.

"Your grandfather sent a video that he would like for me to play now."

The lawyer quickly pressed play and an image of a man Troy only saw in pictures appeared on the screen.

"Unlike many people in the family I'm very proud to have you as my granddaughter. You've never been afraid to stand up for what you believe in. I am also a happy to be a great grandfather. If I knew what your mother was doing to you I would have intervened earlier.

You made a very brave decision going against your family. You're the one grandchild that is most like me. You've never been afraid to be different. I'm very proud of you." Troy could easily see his girlfriend shock in finding out her grandfather was proud of her.

"Now here's the important part. When each one of my grandchildren were born they each receive a trust fund. That money becomes there's at age 21. I have also done the same for my great grandson Alex. What my grandchildren don't know is that I add a certain amount of money to the fund based on the works that they have done before they turn 21. You have resisted your mother's influence. You are one of the few in the family that could actually put love before money. Unlike your cousins and uncles, I know this means nothing to you which are why you're the one who deserves it. You have never seen me as a piggy bank. I hope to see you and my grandson very soon." As the video ended the lawyer handed several papers to Kim. She dropped the pen in shock.

"Baby what is it?" Troy said grabbing the papers from her.

"He gave me the entire company or he will upon his death."

"Kimberly Bolton is now the sole heir to all of her grandfather shares in Beijing Gardens international. She is also the sole heir of all of his other holdings, except for the trust funds set up for everyone else. At present all assets are valued at $12.2 billion. Her current trust fund is now valued at $253.4 million," said the lawyer out loud to everyone in the room. At his words Kim collapsed to the ground.

As Troy ran over to his girlfriend, he could have sworn here his father's say, "At least if she's pregnant they can afford another child."

"Why does everybody assumed if a woman faint she's pregnant. She is just in shock. The entire Lee side of the family has treated her like a pariah for so long. It is all a little much. I'm actually pregnant and I didn't faint. That last part was said in a whisper that no one was to hear. However, Troy heard everything.

* * *

The incident at the grocery store took so long to sort out that Lunch was promptly canceled. She was just happy that Chad's mother was there and she didn't have to call daddy's lawyers. She and Chad were now banned from all three locations of Specialty Foods of Albuquerque. They also have a restraining order against her ex boyfriend. Sharpay was making an ice pack for her boyfriend when she heard Chad's mom approach.

"I guess it's time we have our mother girlfriend talk." Sharpay said as she sat down in a nearby chair.

"It would probably be best before another fight breaks out."

"Considering the week we have been having probably. What do you want to know?"

"Do you love my son?" Chad's mother asked her.

"Yes. This is not a crush. This is not immature love or simple lust. How I feel about him isn't going to go away when he gains 50 pounds and Starts to lose his hair." Ms. Sanchez laughed at that.

"So even though you two have only been together a few months, you see a future with him?"

"I will never see Chad and me living the white picket fence dream. That's just not us. I can see us living in New York with me on Broadway and him working on his next basketball video game. I can see him supporting me in whatever I want to do and I see myself doing the same for him."

"Will I be seeing grandchildren in the future?"

"Not any time soon. We haven't done anything that could possibly produce a grandchild yet. We're not planning on it anytime soon. Now Chad is going to be obsessed with making sure our children are significantly younger than his new brothers or sisters. I hope that he'll get one of each. I can't wait to have more babies to shop for."

"How well is my son taking the fact that he will be a big brother very soon? We both know he will not tell me the truth."

"He didn't hyperventilate or go in to cardiac arrest. I think he is mostly bothered by the fact that Tiffany is only a little bit older than us. Considering you are not that shocked by Tiffany's presents, I'm assuming that your ex's relationship isn't a very new thing.

"No it is not. I don't want to get into that right now."

"Any more questions or can I give my boyfriend his ice pack now?"

* * *

"Do I need to call the lawyers?" Mr. Evans asked as he walked into the living room and saw Chad's obvious black eye.

"No, I just got into a fight with Sharpay's ex boyfriend at a grocery store. Fortunately, Sharpay inflicted enough damage to make up for my black eye. My mother/lawyer was with us." Chad replied with a wince.

"Please tell me it was Richard. I would love to have an excuse to kick him out of the school that I can actually use with judiciaries."

"Unfortunately, it was Zeke. What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in New York right now."

"I had a last minute meeting with the lawyers." Mr. Evans said with a sigh.

"I thought you said you were going to focus more on family instead of business." Sharpay said as she walked into the room.

"This was family business. It seems they are having trouble tracking your mother down to serve her with the divorce papers. I'm flying out tomorrow night and will spend the entire weekend in NYC. I thought the three of us could go out to dinner tonight. Chad your mom can join us if you like."

"We're having dinner with Chad and his future stepmom. Chad's mother is meeting up with an old friend for dinner. You're welcome to join us. I'm going to need extra help to keep Chad from punching out his father. It is probably for the best, because Ryan is too busy entertaining a few friends this weekend."

"I thought it was just going to be Taylor?" Chad asked in confusion.

"It seems that Gabby invited herself to hang out. Last night Taylor and I exchange text messages on the best ways to tortured Gabriella. We currently agreed to send her a copy of Troy and Kim's wedding announcement." Sharpay said handing the ice pack to Chad.

"She's the girl the posted the video on the Internet?" Mr. Evans asked in confusion.

"I never told Ryan about that, but Taylor knows. I did warn him not to put those two girls in the same together. Your brother is going to be lucky to make it out of the holiday alive." Chad said to the other two.

* * *

Kim's gift from her parents was a child free evening for the two of them to just be together. He knew that after today shock Kim needed a little time for herself. Then the strangest thought entered Troy's mind, Vanessa was practicing her parenting skills on her grandchild. He decided today was not the day to tell Kim she was going to be a big sister.

He was expecting to find his girlfriend on the bed in nothing bought black lace after his phone call with Taylor. His ex was definitely causing problems in New York.

Instead, he found a crying mess and a crumpled piece of paper on the floor. He knew it was the letter from Kim's mom. He quickly read through it. She was right. Her mother felt the need to humiliate her daughter one final time.

"Nothing she said in that letter was true," Troy said as wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.

"I could never make her happy. I do not know why she hates me so much." Kim said crying.

"Think about all that good things your grandfather said about you. You are an amazing person."

"You actually believed that?"

"Yes," he said as he kissed her forehead. "How about I run you a bath? Then after you're relaxed, we work on breaking our Vegas record."

* * *

Sharpay stood in her giant walk in closet trying to figure out what to wear to dinner with a man who she already didn't like. Sharpay was furious with the man for his little stunned this morning. He should have at least told Chad earlier that he had a girlfriend. If it wasn't for the fact that Chad had his mother here, he would probably be sulking. He was on her bed watching Sharpay trying to find the perfect outfit.

"Which outfit do you prefer the black skirt with a pinstripe jacket or the chocolate skirt with a sweater?" she asked her boyfriend. He was too busy looking at her underwear clad body to answer the question.

"Can we please just stay here? Chad asked as he placed a kiss above her navel as he tried to lower her white lace panties.

"Not going to happen," Sharpay said as she gently pushed him away. "Your mom is in the guest house next door and my father is down the hall. You should be happy they are letting us be in our room with the door closed."

"I don't want to go." Chad said using her pout against her.

"I don't want to go either. He is your father and is not as bad as Darby. Go put on the outfit that I picked out for you and I will find something to wear."

"Put on whatever shows less cleavage."

"I never thought I would hear you say that, considering you used to stare at my chest even when you thought you hated me."

"Yes, but I don't want my dad gazing at your chest. The guy is dating someone who is no more than three years older than you."

"I prefer my guys on the young side." Sharpay said as she walked over and kissed him.

"That's my favorite cougar in training."

"I can't be a cougar when I'm only one year and 12 minutes older than you. I still can't believe our birthdays are so close. Actually, you and Ryan have the same birthday." Sharpay said as she put on the black skirt.

"You and Ryan are the only twins I know that are not only born on different days, but different years." Chad said as he heard his cell phone ring. From the ring, tone they could tell it was his father. Chad quickly picked up the phone.

"Dad we will be over in an hour to pick you guys up." Chad said to the phone.

"I'm sure flying across the country at seven months pregnant is very tiring. If I had knew about very pregnant Tiffany, I would make other arrangements. However, you didn't tell me anything. Enjoy your night with your girlfriend." Chad said bitterly as he threw his cell phone at the headboard and walked out of the room.

"Okay why did you just break another cell phone? You know we're not going to be able to replace the phone until Friday. I am not looking forward to going to a cell phone store on black Friday." Sharpay said as she caught up with Chad outside the master bedroom right when her father was leaving the room.

"My dad doesn't want to go to dinner because Tiffany is too tired. Apparently flying across the country when you are seven months pregnant drains a lot of energy. Although considering they were making out the entire ride back to the hotel we all know why Tiffany is too tired."

"Who is Tiffany?" Sharpay's dad asked in confusion.

"Tiffany is the mother of Chad's new twin half siblings. She graduated from East High in 2005." Sharpay said in a whisper to her father.

"Why didn't you mention this earlier?" Dad asked a very distressed Chad.

"Dad we knew nothing about it until we saw them making out at the airport this morning." Sharpay answers her father.

"That explains why you got into a fight with Sharpay's ex boyfriend this morning." Mr. Evans mumbled under his breath.

"I was planning on that happening no matter what this weekend. He was going to pay for the Penelope stupidity no matter what." Chad said to her father.

"Go change into jeans. We are going out before you break anything else in my house."

* * *

Kim was trying very hard not to think about her newfound wealth or the things her mother wrote her. Kim was having a very nice bath with boyfriend pampering when she heard the phone ring.

"Let it go to voice mail" Troy said as he caressed one of her breasts.

"What if it is Alex. I'm not going to be able to relax if I am worried about our son." He was already reaching over to the telephone

"Hi mom," Kim's entire body went rigid when she heard him say this. She can only hear his half of the conversation.

"No, dad is not here at the moment or at the very least I don't know if he is. He has a key and knows better them to come near the master suite tonight." Troy said very icily to his mom.

"We are engaged and have a child together. Of course we're having sex. We went over this yesterday. You were too busy calling my child a bastard to pay attention." Troy pointed out in anger.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Kim and our son." Troy sighed into the phone.

"If you behave tomorrow, we will come. The moment you say anything nasty to my fiancée or child, we're leaving. Now excuse me I need to make my girlfriend come." With that Troy ended the call and dropped the phone on the floor.

"I can't believe you just said that." She said as Troy came back over to her.

"She needs to get used to the fact that you and I are in a very serious relationship." Troy said as he began to stroke her underneath the water.

"I'm okay with that. If you want we can send her a video. I can't believe you're making us go there tomorrow after what she did yesterday."

"I think we should give her one more chance. If she does something stupid will just invite my father only to holidays from now on."

"I reserve the right to say 'I told you so' if this blows up in our faces."

* * *

Jack showed up to the guest house 10 minutes after everyone else left. They were supposed to go to dinner and catch up. Instead they were drinking their way through the better liquor at the house. They spent the last hour talking about the argument Jack had with Lucy. Caroline should've known this was a very bad idea considering what happened last time she went on a drinking binge. Both of them were having a very bad day and it seemed like a good idea.

"I can't believe he actually shows up to the airport with that girl without telling Chad anything." Caroline said as she took another shot.

"Yes you can. The man was an absolute bastard. I only stayed friends with him because I was friends with you. He did stuff like this during your entire marriage. You know Tiffany wasn't the first one. I don't even think she was the first one that I've taught in high school." Jack said pouring himself and her another shot.

"No she's just the first one he got pregnant." Caroline said draining the shot instantly.

"I'm not that surprised. This is the same girl that tried to seduce me more than once while she was a student."

"After what happened with Lucy today I bet you wish you took her up on that offer." She said as a joke.

"Despite what my wife of over 20 years did, I really don't feel like contracting an STD to get even. Besides how do you get even for what she did?"

"I know you're upset."

"Of course I am upset. My wife took $0.5 million to sabotage our son's relationship with his girlfriend. She even went so far as to write a fake note where Kim tells Troy that she doesn't love him. She spent two years keeping Troy and Kim apart. She even knew about our grandson and never told me. I think the worst of all is what she did to Gabriella. She used the girl to keep Troy from Kim. She convinced her college friend to uproot her daughter again just too manipulate our son into dating a girl that she approved of. I don't think I can forgive her for that."

"You forgot about the photographs of Lucy making out with a 23 year old colleague that Kim's mother was using as blackmail material."

"At this point the adultery is just another box to check on the divorce papers. I'm not gonna get even with her by doing the barely legal. If I'm going to cheat on my wife to get back at her for what she did, I'm going to sleep was someone I actually lo-like. You are a much better kisser."

They never talked about what happened a year ago when she saw her husband screwing Tiffany in their bed. Fortunately, Chad was staying over at a friend's house and didn't see his parents' marriage truly fall apart. She was so upset that she hit the nearest bar and drank herself into a stupor. 2 hours later the bartender called Jack to pick her up. She was so out of it that she kissed her very married friend. This wasn't a friendly kiss. This was the same type of kiss that Sharpay gave her son on that video she is not supposed to know about.

"I thought we agreed never to mention that again. I was really drunk and very angry at my now ex husband." Before she could even finish her justifications of why she kissed him last time his mouth was on hers. She knew this was a very bad idea. The fact that she hadn't been kissed or touched like this since she kissed him over a year ago may be why she allow things to go too far. She would just blame the alcohol in the morning. She knew that would just be an excuse.

* * *

When Sharpay's dad said they were going out he never expected to end up on the shooting range at Lava Springs with a flashlight. He was currently taking out his frustrations regarding his father on a bucket of golf balls. Mr. Evans told him that he did this every time he felt stress at his job. Chad was on a second bucket and only slightly less likely to kill his father tomorrow.

He wasn't surprised that Sharpay hit the ball farther than him. After closer inspection of the trophy case, he found several golfing awards with Sharpay's name on them.

"How did you actually pull off your damsel in distress golf routine? Better yet how did you, Mr. Evans keep a straight face? Sharpay you should've been on the team in high school. You could be on the A of U team now."

"I'm a very talented actor." Sharpay said as she hit another ball down the fairway.

"I knew she was pretending to attract either you or Troy. I just wasn't sure which one." Both he and Sharpay looked at Mr. Evans with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Honey it was pretty obvious that you had a crush on Chad back then. Sure you chase Troy around for the first few weeks. After that, Chad was the only one you let caddie for you and you left him triple your normal tip. You were always finding excuses to be around him. You don't fight with someone that much unless there's something going on."

"You know he's right Sharpay." Chad said as he gave Sharpay a chaste kiss on the lips.

"So are you less likely to break any more furniture? I really would like to go eat now." Sharpay said in a obvious subject change.

"One more bucket." Chad said kissing her quickly.

"Half," Sharpay said as she kissed him back.

"So should I leave the club opened for a June wedding or a May wedding?" Neither he nor sharpay responded to Mr. Evans joke.

* * *

It was 6:00 AM the day of Thanksgiving and Amanda was sneaking down to the Evans kitchen for an early breakfast before she tackled her English essay again. Her computer was more likely to listen to her in the morning. She was trying to be quiet because she knew Chad, Sharpay, and Mr. Evans didn't get in till late last night.

As she grabbed a box of cereal from the cupboard she noticed Ms. Sanchez leaving the guest house in a bathrobe. Behind her was a guy that she sort of recognized, but couldn't quite remember who he was.

When she saw Mrs. Sanchez pull the guy in for a very passionate kiss she recognized him. Chad's mom was currently making out with Alex's grandfather. As far as she knew he was still a married man. Judging by the way they were kissing it was obvious something happened in the guest house last night. As she took pictures of the scen in front of her, she really wished she took the money to go home when Sharpay offered it to her.

To be continued in Four Thanksgivings and a Nervous Breakdown.

* * *

For everyone who wants to know about what's going on with Gabriella Ryan and Taylor in New York check out my story Gabriella Ryan Taylor Manhattan.


	21. Thanksgivings & Nervous Breakdowns

Chapter 21: Four Thanksgivings and a Nervous Breakdown

Thank you to everybody who is reading this story or reviewing.

* * *

November 30, 2008 5:23 PM

Amanda pulled up in front of the Albuquerque Airport to pick up Marc and Nikki.

"Shouldn't there be a kissing couple in the backseat of the car?" Marc asked as he placed his luggage in the trunk.

"Shar never lets anybody use her car." Nikki said as she sat in the front seat of the car.

"The happy couple is currently recovering from a weekend spent with crazy family and even crazier frienemies. I will never complain about my family being dysfunctional ever again. Troy, Sharpay and Chad's families make mine look like the Cosby family."

"It couldn't be that bad." Marc said as he got in the backseat. "It's not like anybody got arrested."

"Actually multiple people were arrested."

"Somebody got arrested on thanksgiving?" Nikki asked as she put her seatbelt on.

"It was probably black Friday. Sharpay got into a fight over a pair of Jimmy Choo."

"Black Friday was pretty tamed compared to the previous two days. On the day before thanksgiving, Chad and Sharpay got arrested for getting into a fight with Sharpay's ex boyfriend. In the end, nobody pressed charges. "

"I don't get why Chad and Sharpay are so upset about her ex doing the same thing they did to Taylor." Nikki said snidely.

"It wasn't the same thing. Zeke slept with Penelope for months with no intention of ever telling Sharpay. At least Chad and Sharpay actually apologize to Taylor." Amanda said defending her friends.

"What else happened?"

"Nikki you will be happy to know you no longer have the youngest sibling in the group. Chad is getting brand new twin half siblings by a girl he went to high school with."

"Why does this all sound like something straight out of a soap opera?" Nikki asked her friend.

"All of Thursday was something straight out of a soap opera. The cops were called in. Two people were arrested at a very Bolton thanksgiving. Some couples got together. Several others broke up. On top of that one person is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation."

"I always assumed Sharpay was a little off. Let me guess Chad dumped her and she went off the deep end." Marc said with a little laugh.

"Okay now you're just being ridiculous. Actually, one of the things you're taking bets on has occurred." Amanda said to the other two.

"Which one?" Both of her friends asked her.

"We're starting this story at the beginning. Nikki can you please get my new phone out of my bag and look at the photo gallery?" Nikki quickly did as Amanda instructed.

"Why do you have a picture of two older people making out on your phone?" Nikki asked as she pulled up the file.

"That's Chad's mom making out with Alex's grandfather."

* * *

Thursday November 27, 2008 6:23 AM

"I thought I wouldn't be waiting for someone to sneak in until Alex got into high school." Kim said to her almost father in law as he tried to sneak into her house carrying a backpack.

"I thought you'd still be asleep."

"Alex is spending the night with my dad and Troy's here. Do you honestly think we're going to be sleeping?"

"Not really."

"I would still be basking in post orgasmic bless if I didn't receive a text message from Amanda this morning." Kim said as she passed her cell Phone to Jack.

"I really don't need to hear details about your sex life with my son."

"I didn't need to find out about you doing the exact same thing with Chad's mom. Just be happy that Troy was unconscious when I open the message." Kim noticed Jack go completely pale when she said that.

"Oh god," was all Jack said as he sat on the couch.

"I know that your marriage is already falling apart. I don't even like Lucy and I think what you did was stupid. What were you thinking? Cheating doesn't solve anything. This type of behavior leads to baseball bats in Plasma televisions.

"It is not what it looks like." Jack said in his defense.

"So you're not groping Ms. Sanchez's breast in that picture? " Kim said in a yelling whisper. There was no way she wanted Troy to wake up and here this conversation.

"Things are more complicated than that."

"Please tell me what could justify you doing something this stupid. You slept with Chad's mother. You are like a second father to him. You slept with his mother when you were still married to Troy's mother."

Instead of responding to her verbally Jack handed her the letter that the lawyer gave him yesterday. If she didn't already hate Lucille Bolton she would despise her now. Good thing Alex was at her dad's house because she started referring to Lucille by every expletive known to man.

"Are you done screaming?"

"I need to break something. Just tell me this, did you take off your wedding ring before or after you slept with Chad's mother?"

"I threw it at Lucy when I ask for a divorce last night."

"That explains why the bitch called us. At least you technically ended your marriage before you screw Chad's mom." Kim said sarcastically as she sat next to him on the couch.

"I am not telling Troy or Chad about what happened. As far as Troy is concern you were here all night. You will have to tell both of them eventually. Things have a way of coming out."

"You're probably right."

"There's some really good divorce lawyers at Vanessa's firm. Since I'm a major contributing factor in this divorce, I probably should pay for it."

"No you're not. Other than what she did to you and Troy there's still the fact she slept with a 23 year old."

"How dare she call me a pedophile? She is sleeping with someone that is only five years older than Troy."

"Lucy has always been a firm believer in 'do as I say, not as I do'."

"I hope you're not like that. I really don't want to have a brother or sister younger than my own child."

"It's a little too late for that considering your stepmom is pregnant."

"What do you mean Vanessa is pregnant?" Kim yelled so loud that she woke up Troy.

* * *

Breakfast was unbelievably tense and Chad didn't even know his mother screwed his best friend's father last night. Amanda couldn't even look at Chad during breakfast. She promised Kim she wouldn't say anything. Chad's mother definitely looked guilty. She didn't make eye contact with Chad and Sharpay once during the entire breakfast.

The ride to the first thanksgiving was worse. Chad kept making cutting remarks about his father not telling him about Tiffany. Amanda started laughing when Charles answered his son by saying, "This isn't the type of thing you break over the telephone. I thought it would be best if I told you in person."

Chad was going to continue, but Sharpay stopped him with the following: "Taylor, fountain video, baseball bat."

Amanda actually spent the drive talking with Tiffany about their common major. Tiffany prepared Amanda for the horrors of organic chemistry. Amanda found out from Tiffany that Chad will have a brand new brother and sister by February 14.

Amanda walked up to the door of Great Aunt Claudia's home with Chad and Sharpay.

"Since there your family shouldn't you be in front?" Amanda asked the two hiding behind her.

"My dad side of the family is nicer to non relatives."

"Cowards" Amanda said as she rang the doorbell. An Older woman who looked like a darker version of Chad with less wild hair was hugging him.

"You've grown so much sense I saw you last year." Chad's Great Aunt Claudia said before grabbing onto Amanda. "You must be Sharpay. I've heard all sorts of wonderful things about you."

"Aunt Claudia," Chad said trying to correct the woman.

"I absolutely love your hair."

"Aunt Claudia."

"Where did you get your extensions done? They almost look real."

"That's because they are." Amanda said in annoyance as she pushed the woman away. "Before we continue this parody of a scene from an Ashton Kutcher film, I should let you know I'm not Sharpay. The very angry girl behind me is your nephew's girlfriend." Amanda said pointing to Sharpay as Chad try to calm her down.

"Please tell me you're not Charles's new girlfriend. I know my nephew likes his girlfriend's young, but I hope not this young."

"I'm Sharpay's roommate. I'm here to make sure they keep the PDAs down to a minimum. The pregnant 21 year old is the mother of your brand new Great niece and nephew."

* * *

Troy walked to his future father in law's house with his father beside him. His girlfriend was still ranting about no longer being an only child. If her suspicions about Taylor were true, she already had a stepsister.

"Did you have to tell her about Vanessa?" Troy asked his father.

"It was an accident."

"There are other reasons I'm upset such as the fact that after I get through this family lunch I am going to have to go to your mom's house."

"Last night we agreed to give her one more chance."

"That was last night. Circumstances change." Kim said quickly as she kissed Troy. "I just want to go inside, see my son, and yell at my father. How can they do this to Alex? He's going to be two years older than his aunt or uncle. They're going to make fun of him in school." Kim said this as she knocked on the door.

"Taylor's mother let them inside the house and promptly confiscated their cell phones. Vanessa wanted a blackberry free thanksgiving. Troy noticed his son playing with a plush basketball with Jason. As they walked inside his dad quickly grabbed the ball to play with Alex. That's when Troy realized his father wasn't wearing his wedding ring anymore.

* * *

Caroline walked through the main mansion in a restless state. She had nothing to do but think about what she did last night until she had to leave for her mother's house in one hour.

In the harsh light of day, she realizes how stupid she was. No matter how she tried to justify it, she did the exact same thing to Lucy that Tiffany did to her. Maybe it was worse because she just slept with her best friend of 18 years. A friend that was slowly becoming the one person she trusted the most.

She slept with the father of her son's best friend. Jack was almost another father to Chad. Jack was a better father to Chad than Charles ever was. What was she thinking? It didn't matter that Lucy was already doing the same to Jack.

To keep her mind off her colossal mistake, she decided to check out her son's room. She knew that Chad and Sharpay shared a room. There were too many boxer shorts and T shirts for this room to solely belong to Sharpay.

As she walked into the room, she noticed her son's boxers lying on the floor. He still couldn't pick up after himself and apparently his girlfriend had the same habit.

She quickly through the offending garments in the large laundry basket located in the walk in closet. If she didn't know better she would assume this was the bedroom of a married couple. Caroline wasn't sure she wanted her son in this serious of a relationship at 17. At least her son was actually in love with Sharpay and Sharpay loved him. That was when she heard her phone ring.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked her from the other side of the phone. She was surprised that after everything that happened the night before that he actually called.

"I am surprised you called."

"I told you I would. Despite everything, we're still friends.

"I'm just kind of worried. You're my best friend. I don't want to lose that. Especially if yesterday was just a onetime thing.

"Do you want this to be a onetime thing?"

"I don't want this to be just a drunken mistake. It's just everything is complicated. I'm in DC now and I don't think I will move back here. We probably should have had this conversation before I let you take off my clothes last night."

"Probably, it was so much fun at the time. I personally would like a repeat performance tonight. I'll settle to know what you're wearing right now. "

"No repeat performances until the papers are signed. I'm definitely not having phone sex with you in the room my son shares with his girlfriend. Chad and Sharpay act so much like a happily married couple it's scary. I wanted him to have the childhood I didn't have. He's practically married at 17." Caroline said with a sigh as she walked over to the desk and sat down in the chair.

"Caroline I know you. You want Chad to have the life you didn't have. Just as your father wanted you to have the life he didn't have. Did you ever think that maybe Chad should get to live the life he wants to live?"

"This is coming from the man that pushed his son had first into basketball. You completely freaked out when Troy tried out for a play."

"I eventually came on board. Although I kind of wished I put my foot down about Berkeley. Things would be so much easier right now, if Troy was at A of U."

"Now you want Troy in New Mexico for Alex and Kim, not basketball. You are evolving."

* * *

A very Danforth thanksgiving was not going well. At least three other relatives including Chad's grandmother assumed Amanda was her.

Chad's grandmother already hated her because she had no kitchen skills whatsoever. It wasn't her fault she grew up with a personal chef. Chad was just as bad as she was. As her and Chad were being kicked out of the kitchen she heard Chad's aunt Esther say "Thank god she's rich, otherwise they would starve." Maybe she and Chad should take couple's cooking lessons next year.

After the kitchen incident, Sharpay had to keep Amanda from getting into a fight with Aunt Claudia. Amanda and Claudia were having a conversation about Amanda's major when they started to talk about her learning disability. Aunt Claudia managed to say five of the seven things never to say to a person with a non-visible disability within a 5-minute period. Sharpay was able to pull Amanda out before she began yelling at Aunt Claudia for her use of the R word and the term handicap.

By the time they actually sat down for lunch Sharpay was ready to leave. The fact that they assigned her and Chad to the kiddies table made her want to leave faster. Chad six year old nephew kept throwing food at her. Adding greater insult to injury was the fact Amanda was invited to sit at the adults table.

"I can't believe they're letting Amanda sit at the adults table." Sharpay said in annoyance to her boyfriend.

"I told you my family would treat non relatives better. They assume that because were related by blood we have to forgive them for their stupid behavior." Chad said as he grabbed a piece of Turkey off her plate.

"Can I sit with you and Sharpay? Tiffany asked as she gestured to the empty seat next to Chad.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with my dad at the adults table? " Chad asked in surprise.

"Your Aunt Esther gave the last seat to Amanda. Your family loves Amanda. She's the brilliant premed major and I am the whore that sleeps with 40 year old men. They don't want to know that I have a 3.9 GPA or I have my choice of any med school in the country." Tiffany said as she took a seat next to Chad.

"Welcome to the family. Mom and I were the black sheep of this family. They only reason they tolerate me is because I am a up and coming star on the A of U basketball team." Chad said to Tiffany and Sharpay.

"Why do they treat you like that?" Tiffany asked Chad.

"A million different reasons, none of them I want to talk about. Next year you and my new brother and sister will be forced to deal with the wrath of the Danforth family."

"At least you are not denying the existence of your new brother and sister. Considering your reaction yesterday I figured you state in denial about the entire situation until the twins got here."

"I was just a little surprised because he never told me that he was dating someone else." Sharpay notice a very angry expression on Tiffany's face.

"Charles told me that you knew all about our relationship and the twins. I'm not that surprise considering the bastard never can tell the truth. It's not the first time he has lied to me. 'No the condom didn't break' 'I not married.' I'm pretty sure I love you was a lie to." Chad was too much in shock to pick up on the true meaning behind Tiffany's angry words.

"What are you talking about Tiffany?" Chad asked as things started to come together.

"They never told you." Tiffany said in an almost whisper.

"Tell me what?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to. He told me that him and your mom were already divorced. I didn't know he was lying until she walked in on us." At this point Tiffany was crying hysterically.

Sharpay was expecting her boyfriend to start screaming at Tiffany and his father. He didn't say a word. He just calmly got up from the table. Before Sharpay had time to grab onto a crying Tiffany, Chad had knocked his father out of his chair.

"How the fuck could you have done that to mom? How could you cheat on her with someone who is barely older than me? Tiffany didn't even know you were married, because you lied to her."

"You don't have a right to be high and mighty. You did the exact same thing to Taylor." Charles spat back from the floor.

"I didn't with sleep was someone else while I was dating Taylor." Chad said angrily.

"You did fall in love with another person."

"I wasn't married to Taylor. I didn't promise her till death do us part. Unlike you, I realize what I did was wrong. Sharpay also knew full well that I had another girlfriend. Did you ever apologized to mom for what you did? Did you apologize to Tiffany? No you probably blamed me like you always do for all your problems. I'm the reason why you didn't get to play in the NBA. I'm the reason why you were in a marriage that you hated. Are you going to blame the new kids for all your problems now?" Chad said yelling at his father.

"You and your mother were the reason why I didn't get to do a lot of things. Why should I apologize to your mother? She did the same to me."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I was with Tiffany your mom was screwing her best friend behind my back."

"Mom would never do that to you. I know you two never loved each other and the only reason why you got married was because of me. However, mom actually took her marriage vows seriously. Unlike you, Coach Bolton is not a self satisfying prick who is only concerned with getting off." When Chad mentioned Coach Bolton Amanda's entire body went rigid.

"Please get off your pedestal and see reality. Everybody is a sinner including you." As Charles said the words to his son, Chad turned around and ran out of the house.

She and Amanda quickly made their apologies and got out. As soon as they were safely outside Sharpay asked Amanda, "Why did you freeze up in their?"

"I can't tell you." Amanda said in a whisper.

"You know something?"

"This morning I woke up early to work on the English paper from hell. When I went to get some cereal, I ended up taking this picture." Amanda said as she passed the phone to sharpay. Sharpay accidentally dropped Amanda's phone in a puddle when she saw the picture of her high school gym teacher groping her boyfriend's mother.

* * *

Present

"He actually punched out his father." Marc asked in surprise

"Yes."

"Did they call the cops?"

"According to Tiffany, no. We were already gone by that point. As we were leaving the dysfunctional Danforth family, things were going to hell at the Kim house."

* * *

November 27, 2008 12:06 PM

Kim was having a very hard time at her parents' house. The entire time she was helping Vanessa in the kitchen she wanted to ask her about the pregnancy and Taylor. She never could because someone would always walk in.

The entire morning she felt like she was walking on eggshells. Maybe that's why she exploded during dinner. It probably did not help that she was already on her third glass of wine.

They were going around the table saying what they were thankful for, when Vanessa and her father took the opportunity to announce the birth of their new child. By May, Kim was going to have a brand new baby sister.

"I'm certainly not thankful for the replacement child." Kim said under her breath, but everybody still heard her.

"Kim we are not replacing you. I will always love you." Mr. Kim said as he grabbed Kim's hand. Kim just pushed him away.

"I know you're not trying to replace me. You're trying to replace Taylor." Kim didn't mean to say the name out loud. The look on Mr. and Mrs. McKessie faces proved her suspicions. Taylor was the daughter Vanessa gave up 19 years ago.

"Kim can we not talk about this now?" Vanessa pleaded with Kim.

"Don't you think it's time everything comes out. There's so many secrets going on in this room and I'm so tired of it." With that Kim ran out the door and Troy followed her.

"Troy go back inside. Give me a little time." Kim pleaded with her boyfriend.

"I am not going to leave you like this." Troy said wrapping his arms around her. "Besides I need to know if you know why my father isn't wearing his wedding ring. Was that another one of the secrets you were referring to?"

"It's on the list. You're going to have to ask your dad."

"Does it have anything to do with my dad sleeping with Chad's mom?"

"How do you know about that?" Kim asked as she stopped walking.

"I overheard them talking on the phone upstairs when I went to get Alex a different pair of shoes."

"Things are really complicated. Go back inside and talk to your dad. Meet me at the Starbucks down the street in 90 minutes. You guys need time to talk and I just need to calm down."

"You have 90 minutes to calm down and then I'm coming to get you."

"Thank you," Kim said as she kissed Troy quickly before she left.

* * *

Jason has always been observant. He always picked up on the fact that Taylor acted a lot more like Aunt Vanessa than mom and dad. Taylor even looked more like Aunt Vanessa. There was also the fact that Aunt Vanessa was helping to pay for Taylor's education. Now everything made sense.

"Taylor's not my sister?" Jason asked as soon as Kim and Troy were out to the door.

"Of course Taylor is your sister." Jason's mom said trying to calm him down.

"I'm not talking about in a legal or in an emotional way. Is Taylor my biological sister?"

"No," Vanessa answered for of both his parents. "Taylor is my biological daughter. When she was born, I wasn't able to keep her for various reasons. Your mom and dad being the loving people they are, offered to take care of her and let me still be part of her life."

"Does she know?" Jason asked all in the room.

"No," Jason's father said in a near whisper.

"Were you ever going to tell us?" Jason said as he got up from the table and ran up the stairs.

"Jason," that was the last thing he heard his mother say as he walked himself in Alex's room.

30 minutes later Jason snuck out the second floor window.

* * *

The ride to his grandmother's house was unbelievably tense. Neither Amanda nor Sharpay said a single word on the way there. If it wasn't for Sharpay holding his hand the entire time he would think he was alone. He wished someone would talk so he wouldn't have to think about what his father said.

At first he didn't believe his father. There was no way his mother would cheat on his dad. Then again, he never thought he would cheat on Taylor. Everyone thought Chad was a carbon copy of his father. In reality he was much more like his mother.

Chad was convince his father only saw Tiffany as a sex toy that he accidentally got pregnant. Chad would never cheat on his girlfriend for just sex. That is why every time Penelope proposition him he ran away screaming. Nevertheless, he did cheat on Taylor by falling in love with someone else and making out with that person. If he could fall in love with someone else during a committed relationship Chad knew his mom could do the same.

His mom and Coach Bolton have always had a really close friendship. Almost like him and Sharpay during their denial phase. As Sharpay pulled in front of his grandmother's house Chad realized how highly probable it was for him and Troy to end up steps siblings.

Other than his strange thoughts about his mom, thanksgiving with his mom's family was going much better. No one assumed that Amanda was his girlfriend or put their foot in their mouths

Because they arrived an hour earlier than they were supposed to, they were currently helping get things together. Amanda was setting the table with his aunt Mariah as Chad and Sharpay helped in the kitchen. Chad's Grandmother Katherine was actually showing Sharpay how to do something in the kitchen instead of expecting her to know automatically. Chad started laughing hysterically when Sharpay ended up covered in putting due to problems with a hand mixer.

"Laugh all you want. The only reason I'm not throwing this pudding on you is I forgot to bring you a back up outfit."

"I'm not laughing at you." Chad said as he walked over and grabbed one of her pudding covered hands.

"Yes you are."

"Maybe, but I like this look." Chad said as he placed the pudding covered finger in his mouth and began to suck on it.

"That's enough of that. I would like to be at least 65 before I have my first great grandchild."

"Sorry grandma," Chad said letting go of Sharpay's hands.

"Sharpay you can get cleaned up in the bathroom down the hall. Your boyfriend and I will go get your back up outfit." Just grandmother said as they walked out of the house.

"I like her. She's definitely less pretentious then your last girlfriend. At least she offered to help, though the poor child doesn't know how to use a hand mixer. She did not start yelling at me for perpetuating the female stereotype of the homemaker." Chad's grandmother said as they grabbed Sharpay's outfit out of the Lexus.

"You never had the opportunity to meet high school Sharpay. Let's just say pretentiousness was a major component of her personality. Sharpay doesn't know how to cook because she grew up with servants to do that for her. One of us is going to have to take cooking lessons otherwise we're going to starve. I doubt we will want to live off takeout once were married."

"So this is a serious relationship?"

"Yes, I really do love her."

"Why do love her? Because if you only love her for her looks and good sex, you're in trouble. Those things can go way in time."

"We have not had sex yet."

"Maybe one of my babies will actually be able to wear white on their wedding without it being a farce."

"I love Sharpay because she understands me and I understand her. She supports me even when she thinks I'm being crazy. I've never trust anybody more than her. I know her secrets and she knows mine. We talked things out instead of running away. Sharpay's my best friend and my partner In everything. If I didn't love Sharpay beyond the superficial it wouldn't work. She drives me crazy sometimes and I still love her." Chad answered his grandmother as they walked back in the house.

Chad was now waiting on the couch for Sharpay to finish changing when his Cousin Carmen walked in.

"What are you doing here? You usually skip these things." Chad asked as he hugged the only cousin he could tolerate. He hadn't seen her sense her performance at the play because she was in a different Drama I section than the one Sharpay works with.

"That's because daddy hated grandpa and grandpa hated him. Now that everybody's dead, it doesn't matter anymore." Carmen finished solemnly.

"I'm sorry."

"It has been over a year Chad. I'm okay. My half brother and guardian Jose believes I should spend as much time around my remaining family as possible."

"I don't think I ever met your half brother. I'm not even sure if he was at the funeral."

"The funeral was hard for both of us. He always did holidays with his mom. Let me introduce you to him and his cougar of a girlfriend." Carmen said that last part bitterly.

"You don't like the new girlfriend."

"She's evil and old enough to be my mom." Carmen complained as they walked into the dining room. Inside stood the devil herself.

Chad knew that Sharpay would be walking out of the bathroom at any moment to see her mother there. At the same time he saw his mom and Mr. Evans walk through the front door. Chad forgot that his mother invited Mr. Evans to join them as a way to thank him for letting her stay at his house for the holiday. This was going to be a disaster.

* * *

Tiffany was standing in Aunt Claudia's kitchen handing her boyfriend an ice pack. Part of Tiffany wished she was the one who punch Charles. She didn't understand why she kept going back to this man.

"Did you really always blame Chad for the things you didn't get to do?"

"What type of question is that honey?" Charles said as he unsuccessfully tried to grab her hand.

"It's an honest question Charles. I had your son's childhood. My father always blamed me for not living the life he wanted. He did it every day until he left when I was 12."

"I'm not your father. I love you." For some reason Tiffany didn't believe him anymore.

"Do love me or just the way I make you come? You can't answer that question can you? Are you with me right now just because the condom broke again?"

"That's not why I'm with you."

"I am not going to put my children through what I went through." Tiffany said as she walked to the door

"Where are you going?"

"Away from you," Tiffany said as she slammed the door behind her.

Tiffany had no idea where she was going. She wondered through the neighborhood until she came to a shopping mall. She walked into the Starbucks and ordered a strawberry lemon ice. Tiffany tried to call her Aunt Laura, but couldn't get a hold of her.

After a second attempt, Tiffany saw an old friend from her junior year when she was on the academic decathlon team.

"Kimberly Kim what are you doing here. I figure you would be chasing after your Broadway dream.

"I was in New York for a little while, unfortunately things change. I'm back at A of U majoring in education right now. Let me order my coffee and then we can catch up."

When Kim sat down at the table the first thing she said was, "You're pregnant!"

"I know I'm young, but I'm actually happy about it."

"Tiffany I can't say anything." Kim said as she pulled photographs out of her bag. "This is my son Alexander Troy. He will be two in January. I'm that old cliché of the girl getting pregnant in high school."

"I'm sure your story is less sordid than mine." Tiffany said as she continued to drink her lemonade.

"Alex's dad is three years younger than I am."

"My babies' dad is 19 years older than I am and he's a complete ass."

"How did you end up with an older man?"

"You remember how my grandmother was really sick right. I went to college in Cleveland to helped take care of her. It was hard for most guys are age to understand what it's like to be responsible for a sick parent or grandparent. I couldn't do a relationship with guys my own age." Tiffany heard Kim laugh at that.

"You've always liked older guys. Everybody knows that you had a crush on Coach Bolton in high school."

"Can we please not talk about That? I'm trying to repress the fact that I try to sleep with our high school gym teacher. So anyway, I started dating an older businessman who was actually from Albuquerque who came to Cleveland on business a lot. As far as I knew, he was divorced. It turns out one summer when I was visiting my mom here, we hooked up at his house and his wife walked in on us."

"That's not good."

"Not at all. I ended up breaking off the relationship in the summer of 2007. His marriage actually ends and I went back to Cleveland to watch my grandmother die. She died in April of this year.

"I'm sorry. I know you two were really close."

"Thank you. I didn't take her death very well and spent most of April in and out of bars. At one of these bars, I ran into my ex-boyfriend and ended up having comfort sex.

"Which is why you're currently very pregnant?"

"I was planning on not telling him. Unfortunately, I ran into him in October at a grocery store. He just took a job in Cleveland. I had to tell him the truth. Now he wants us to get married and be a happy family. I was going to go along with it until I realize what he did to his first wife and older son. Now I'm sitting here with you at Starbucks trying to figure out what I should do."

"I understand what it's like to be young, scared, and pregnant. Let me tell you what I went through during my pregnancy with Alex. Maybe it will help you make your own decision."

* * *

After Kim stormed off and Jason locked himself in Alex's bedroom, the lunch deteriorated quickly. Troy tried to preoccupy himself by feeding his son. It was kind of hard given the tense atmosphere. At least his almost father in law was not stareing him down.

With 30 minutes left until he needed to pick up Kim, he made his excuses and took Alex to the car. As soon as Alex was safely in his car seat he asked his father the two questions he needed to know the answer to.

"Dad, do you want to tell me why you're not wearing your wedding ring?"

"Don't we need to go pick up Kim now?" His father asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

"We have 25 minutes. If the first question is too hard, maybe you can tell me why you slept with Chad's mom last night."

"Did Kim tell you what happened?"

"I overheard you talking to her on the phone when I went to pick up Alex's shoes."

"Do you want to hear the sanitized for your consumption answer or the truth?"

"I think I want the truth."

"Let's start with why the wedding ring is missing." Troy's father said as he passed a large envelope to Troy. "That is the letter that Kim's mother gave me yesterday."

"Do I really want to read this?"

"No, but you need to."

* * *

It actually felt good for Kim to have a grownup conversation was someone her own age. She couldn't talk about parenting or what she went through with her friends like Sharpay. They had no idea what it was like.

"I still have no idea what to do." Tiffany said as she took one last drink of her Lemonade.

"For now you're going to come with me and my boyfriend to thanksgiving at his house as we tell his entire family that he has a two year old son. Then I will call the hotel that you're staying at and get you a separate room. Because I am now a major shareholder in the company that owns that hotel, I'm sure I can get you another room. You can figure out what to do about the babies' daddy later. I personally feel you should just sue him for child support and set up a joint custody arrangement. There's some great divorce/family lawyers at my stepmom's firm."

"That sounds like a good idea." Tiffany said quietly.

"It looks like my boyfriend is right on time."

"You did not tell me your boyfriend was Troy Bolton. You got pregnant by golden boy Troy Bolton in high school?" Tiffany said in shock.

"I forgot to tell you my new last name is Bolton.

"Okay you win for most sordid pregnancy situation." Tiffany said as Kim helped her get up from the booth and walked outside.

"Troy this is my friend Tiffany Jackson from high school. She's going to be coming with us since she just broke up with her stupid boyfriend."

"You broke up with Charles?" Kim heard Jack asked as he got out of the front seat of the car.

"I don't want my children raised by a lying bastard." Tiffany said as she got in the front seat.

"At least you wised up a lot faster than Caroline." Jack mumbled under his breath.

"Your boyfriends name is Charles. "

"You forgot to tell Kim you are having Chad's half siblings?" Jack asked Tiffany. Both Troy and Kim looked at Tiffany in complete shock.

"I knew I forgot one important detail." Tiffany said as she put on her seatbelt.

"Okay, you win for most sordid pregnancy situation." Kim said

"I'm assuming this is another one of those contributing factors for yesterday's insanity." Troy asked his father as he went to sit in the backseat with Kim and Alex.

"Major contributing factor,"

* * *

Caroline walked into her mother's house just as her son started yelling at someone she never saw before.

"We already met Carmen. This evil woman used to beat the hell out of my girlfriend when she was a scare child. When she got older she just used psychological abuse." Caroline never saw her son that angry before.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The woman said in denial. Caroline suddenly remembered her 10 year old son telling her about that girl he made fun of being covered in bruises.

"Yes, Darby tell us all about how you hit our daughter. Let's let the public finally see you for the monster you really are."

"This is your ex husband?" Her late sister stepson said as he let go of the woman's hand in shock.

"Eventually, but not yet. They haven't found her to serve her with the papers. Let me guess my evil, backstabbing, and treacherous soon to be ex wife never told you she was still technically married."

"What's going on? What is she doing here?" Caroline heard Sharpay said as she walked into the room.

"It turns out your mom's boy toy is my cousin's half brother."

"What is going on is your wretched flavor of the month boyfriend and father are making a scene."

"It is such a shame mother if people see who you are underneath the designer suits. For too many years, I kept up the pretense of the perfect happy family. I played the role you want me to play perfectly. Not anymore mother. As for Chad, you better get used to him being around because he will be your future son in law."

At that remark, Darby started referring to her son by all sorts of nasty terms. Caroline had to be held back by Amanda and her sister Sarah. She had the sudden urge to deck the bitch.

The soon to be ex Mrs. Evans finished off her tirade with "As if she would ever marry someone like you. I'm sure you are good for a fling, but not much more." Caroline could see the anger in Sharpay's eyes

"Mom unlike you, I don't care how people perceive me. I've never cared. That was you. I finally found the one person I wanna be with and I really don't care if he doesn't come with his own yacht. As hard as it is for you to believe mom, I do love him completely and unconditionally." Sharpay said as she walked over to Caroline's son and grabbed his hand.

"You know I see us together growing old in Manhattan and fighting over the last pop tart. I can see us raising cute little kids with my eyes and your crazy hair."

"I was thinking somewhere in Silicon Valley, but I like your fantasy to." Chad said as he kissed her forehead.

"Do you want to make it a reality?" Caroline could see her son nod yes.

"Chad Daniel Danforth will you marry me?" Caroline saw Sharpay's mother fall to the floor. Caroline felt like joining her. How could her baby be thinking about getting married at 17. Maybe this was an elaborate performance to get back at Sharpay's mother. One could hope. The evil woman certainly deserved it.

"Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" Caroline heard her son asked Sharpay.

"Like we do anything nor…" Sharpay was cut off by Chad kissing her. Caroline could hear the rest of the family clapping behind her. Even Mr. Evans was smiling. Why was he smiling? Their babies were too young.

"Why are you happy? You're not even that surprise. "

"Because I knew this day was coming when your son introduced himself to me as my future son in law. Their happy right now. We can talk about logistics later. Let them be happy for the moment."

"I'll take that as a yes." She heard Sharpay said as she pulled away from Chad's kiss.

"I thought you said the engagement doesn't count if a ring was not involved?"

"Consider this a loner." Caroline's mother said as she handed Chad her engagement ring.

45 minutes later after Sharpay's mother was kicked out of the house by her now ex boyfriend, they were walking back to the car.

"You think you could have remembered three weeks ago that my mom was screwing one of your relatives?" Sharpay said to her son as they walked to the car. Mr. Evans already left a few minutes earlier to make his flight.

"He is my cousin's half brother. I've never met the man before. Besides it was dark when I saw him with your mom."

'If you let me know Carmen was your cousin I would have been able to put things together."

"Sharpay on my mom's side alone I have eight aunts and uncles. I have over 25 first Cousins on my mom's side. Altogether I have 36 Cousins. Sharpay even I don't know who all my Cousins are."

She would interrupt this argument to ask her son if the engagement was real if they didn't find a crying 12 year old sitting in Sharpay's car.

"Jason what are you doing in my car?" Sharpay asked the boy.

"Did you know that Taylor's not my sister?"

* * *

"They just had to get engaged on thanksgiving. Couldn't they have waited until Christmas" Marc complained from the backseat as they pulled into the parking lot of Evans hall.

"Looks like you lost another bet." Nikki said with a laugh.

"How come you didn't e-mail us these pictures as soon as it happened?"

"These are not my pictures. These are all courtesy of Cousin Carmen. By that point my phone was unusable due to Sharpay throwing it in a puddle."

"Judging by your new phone, Sharpay give good replacement gifts.

"Trust me things would have been a lot better Thursday if we actually had cell phones that were working. While we were in New Mexico experiencing true thanksgiving chaos, Lucy was pulling off one last desperate attempt to break up Kim and Troy."

"What did she do?" Nikki asked as she got out of the car.

"She probably got his ex girlfriend to show up." Marc said as he made his way to the trunk of the car.

"That is a story for tomorrow at lunch."

"You can't leave the story there." Nikki said in annoyance as she grabbed her bag from the trunk.

"I'm tired and have survived the weekend from hell. Due to the chaos of this weekend, I still don't have my English Paper done."

"If you tell us, I will proofread your paper." Nikki said in one last attempt to get her finish the story tonight.

"Chad already said he would Tuesday. This is why I need to hurry up."

"C'mon tell us what happens? We still don't know who got arrested." Marc said to Amanda.

"I'm personally going with Kim and Lucy." Nikki said to Marc.

"I'm thinking Lucy and Caroline." Marc said to Nikki.

"I promise I'll tell you tomorrow." Amanda said as she pulled away from the building.

* * *

A/N: I won't be updating the second part tomorrow, but I will be posting as soon as possible. I doubt that I will be able to get it up by thanksgiving. I probably could have something out by Monday. I could use some encouragement to write faster. If anybody wants to guess who gets arrested in a review be my guess.


	22. Now What?

Thank you to everyone who reviewed or read the last chapter. Thank you to everyone who has this story on alert or his or her favorites.

I'm going back and rewriting the entire story. I'm correcting the numerous grammar mistakes. Also because I raise the rating to M anyway, I'm going back and restoring some of the scenes that I cut for content. So far I have chapters 1-11 rewritten and posted.

Chapter 22 Now What?

**December 1, 2008 7:12 AM**

Jason sat in Sharpay's Lexus as she drove him to school. Since the great thanksgiving disaster, he has been staying at the Evans mansion with Taylor. She flew in unexpectedly Thursday just in time to find out that their parents lied to them their entire lives. Neither one of them wanted to see their parents after what happened Thursday. Because Taylor left yesterday, Chad and Sharpay were making him go home today.

"After class, I'll take you home." Sharpay said as she pulled in front of the drop-off entrance of the school.

"I don't want to go home." Jason said in anger as he got out of the car.

"I know you're still upset Jason." Sharpay said trying to calm him down.

"You have no idea how I feel. What if you found out that Ryan was not your brother?"

"Taylor is still your sister. It's just DNA. It doesn't mean anything. She still loves you." Sharpay said as she grabbed his hand. Jason could see Sharpay's new engagement ring sparkling in the morning sunshine.

"That's what Taylor said this weekend." Jason said as he pulled away from her. "I'll see you this afternoon Sharpay." Jason said as he walked into the building.

Jason walked to his first block classe of the day trying to blend into the crowd of gossiping students. Beginning this school year they no longer had homeroom because classes were now 90 minutes for one semester. His first class today was health with Jackie. Like the rest of the student body, Jason wondered if his teacher would actually show up today. Everybody was talking about the biggest piece of gossip in New Mexico history.

"Did you hear that Coach Bolton's wife was arrested for assaulting Troy's ex girlfriend's mother? I heard it took six cops to break up the fight."

"Did you hear that Troy's mom was arrested on charges of tax evasion and extortion? According to the paper, she took $0.5 million to breakup Troy and his girlfriend Kim. Unfortunately, she never reported it to the IRS or her husband."

"Did you hear what happened to Gabriella Montez? She went off the deep end when Troy broke up with her for Ms. Kim. According to a friend of mine who volunteers at the Albuquerque Medical center, Gabriella is currently in the psychiatric wing. She's been there since Thursday night. "

"Did you hear that Ms Kim's new last name is Bolton?"

"Did you hear that Troy is the father of Kim's two year old son? That explains why he never paid any attention to me during freshman year." Said one of the cheerleaders who is now a senior.

The only person not talking about the Bolton's was Tiara. "Did you see the engagement ring that Sharpay was wearing? Can you believe he is marrying that girl? The condom must have broken for him to be marrying an ice queen bitch like her."

Jason quickly walked by his gossiping classmates to his locker next to Jackie. Jackie was standing in front of her locker flirting with Jimmy. Jason maybe 12, but he already knew that Jimmy was not into Jackie. Jason knew Kerri was watching the entire scene trying not to laugh.

"How was your Thanksgiving break?" Kerri asked him. "I'm sure you didn't have any unexpected relative show up seven months pregnant by a man old enough to be their father. Did I mention that my Cousin Tiffany is moving in with me and my mom for the next few months?" Kerri said as she grabbed her books from her locker. Jason already knew about Tiffany because he met her at the Bolton house.

"Never speak of that holiday in front of me again. " Jason said as he finally got his locker open.

"I doubt your Thanksgiving was worse than mine." Jackie said to the entire group.

"Try me," Jason said with a hint of anger.

"Kelsey brought her roommate Natasha to Thanksgiving."

"That's not so bad." Jason said in dismissal. Jason had to deal with Taylor's brand new special friend along with the adoption bombshell. At least Ryan seemed a lot cooler than some of the guys Taylor dated before Chad.

"It was okay until Friday when mom walked in on the two kissing in Kelsey's bedroom." No one saw that coming.

"What happened?" Kerri asked her friend in shock.

"Dad freaked out and started screaming at her. Mom couldn't stop crying about not having grandchildren. They conveniently forgot that they had another child." Jackie said with an annoyed sigh.

"Does Ryan know?" Jimmy asked Jackie.

"I doubt that he would care seeing as he's now screwing my sister." Jason said under his breath, but everybody still heard him.

"What?" The other three asked him in shock.

"Yes my sister is now special friends with Sharpay's brother. The really shocking part was I accidentally watched a video file of Ryan trying to take off her bra with his teeth. Of course, it doesn't matter because Taylor's not my sister. It turns out I really am an only child." Jason said as he slammed his locker.

He didn't feel like going to health class. He made his way to the roof just to think. If Mr. Bolton was actually brave enough to come in today, Jason was sure he would understand. It was his almost daughter in law that let the metaphorical cat out of the bag.

**November 27, 2008 2:10 PM**

"Did you know that Taylor's not my sister?" Jason asked both her and Chad with sadness in his voice.

"What are you talking about Jason?" Sharpay said as she slid in the back seat next to Jason as she threw her keys to Chad's mother.

"Taylor is adopted. It turns out Aunt Vanessa is Taylor's mom." Sharpay was in complete shock at Jason's revelation.

"Kim stepmom is Taylor's biological mom?" Chad asked as he sat down next to Jason. "That explains why they looked so much alike." Chad mumbled under his breath. That just made Jason cry even more. Sharpay quickly wrapped one arm around the crying boy. That is when Jason notice her engagement ring.

"You finally proposed?"

"Actually I did." Sharpay said to Jason. "He was a good little boyfriend and said yes." Sharpay said as she showed her ring to Jason. By this point, Chad's mother was already driving to the Bolton house.

"If you proposed Sharpay, shouldn't I be the one wearing the ring?" At Chad's joke, Jason started to cry less.

"When did this happen?

"About 53 minutes ago," Chad said in answer.

"Yes, I won the engagement pool." Jason said as he finally stopped crying completely.

"Great Marc and Nikki are letting 12 year olds take bets." Amanda said from the front seat.

"No I had Taylor make it for me."

"The engagement was real?" Chad's mother asked from the front seat. "I thought you were just playing with your mother."

"If I was playing with my mother's head, I would get one of those fake pregnancy bellies." Sharpay mumbled to the others.

"Don't even joke about doing something like that. You and Sharpay are to young to be getting married. You're 17. You two have only been dating for a couple of months. Before that, you two hated each other." Ms. Sanchez said from the front of the car

"I think that was their version of foreplay." Amanda mumbled.

"It's going to be a long engagement." Sharpay said trying to reassure her future mother in law.

"I don't know why you are so upset. You were already married at my age. You didn't know dad as well as I know Sharpay. I've known Sharpay sense she was five. You and dad were just a quick fu - hook up after a game that went horribly wrong. I actually know my girlfriend." Chad said practically screaming at his mother.

"Yes and I ended up married to an absolute pri-idiot because I married to young." Miss Sanchez corrected herself when she remembered there was a 12 year old in the backseat. "I just don't want you to end up in the same situation."

"Unlike dad I actually know how to use a condom. I also don't see Sharpay as a glorified blow up doll."

"Please remember there is a child in the backseat." Ms. Sanchez chastised her son.

"According to credit hours, I'm already a high school sophomore. I've heard worse. We're actually going over this chapter next week in health class. I'm personally looking forward to making Mr. Bolton squirmed during the chapter."

"Just mention the fact he has a two year old grandchild.". Chad muttered quietly.

"I'm sorry, you look small for a sophomore." Ms. Sanchez said in apology.

"That's because he's 12. This is Taylor's gifted little brother." Chad said to his mother in explanation.

"You still hang out with Taylor's little brother?" Chad's mother asked in surprise.

"Chad got custody of me in the break up." Jason said with a tiny little smile. "He's currently sharing his wisdom with me on the best ways to torture the faculty of EHS."

"My personal suggestion for health class is to ask your teacher what is the best way to sneak out after you just had sex with someone other than your wife." Amanda said with a snicker from the front of the car.

Sharpay notice Chad's mother freeze up when Amanda said this. This was not the time for Chad to find out his mother was sleeping with his good father figure.

"That would probably get me suspended even if it is true." Jason muttered under his breath.

"What are you talking about Amanda?" Her boyfriend asked Amanda. Sharpay quickly grabbed his hand knowing what was about to happen next.

"Amanda is talking about the fact that your mom is sleeping with Coach Bolton." Sharpay was pretty sure Chad stopped breathing when Jason said this. Chad's mother accidentally ran a stop sign.

"How did you know?" Ms. Sanchez said in a way that was almost an admission of guilt.

"Did I mention that I overheard you talking to him this morning when I went to show Troy where Alex's room was?"

The car ride pretty much deteriorated into a yelling match between Chad and his mother that didn't stop until they actually reached the Bolton house and Chad fled to Troy's room.

Key phrases used during this match included, "You are sleeping with my best friend's father. What are you thinking?" "Dad was right. I hate it when dad is right. " "Does anybody in this family believe in monogamy?"

Sharpay's personal favorite line was, "Please tell me you used a condom last night. I don't think I can deal with anymore new siblings this year."

**December 1, 2008 9:01 AM**

The moment Chad walked out his calculus class he put his arm around Sharpay shoulder and kissed her on the mouth in a way that was probably inappropriate for 9:00 AM on Monday morning. He just wanted to kiss her and be near her.

"It's only been 2 ½ hours. You're kissing me like you haven't seen me in days." Sharpay said as they began walking to their English class with his arm around her. He would miss this next semester, because they would only have one class together. Unless he can talk Sharpay into getting a minor in Latino studies, they probably won't have any more classes together after this year.

"I miss you." Chad said kissing her on the lips once more. "How did things go with Jason this morning?"

"He is still mad at everyone. He does not want to see his parents today. I feel like a monster for making him go back. " Chad could feel the tension in his girlfriend's body.

"I can understand how he feels considering that both of my parents have been lying to me for years."

"Let's just hope Jason doesn't punch his father."

"My father deserved that. I am mad at both of my parents' at this point. They never told me about the real reason why they got divorced. Mom never told me about dad cheating on her all the time. Of course to top off the entire situation my mom is now sleeping with the father of my best friend."

The only reason why he and Troy are not conspiring to break up their parents is that they actually are okay with the possibility of being steps siblings. Actually in their minds that might be the only positive of this entire situation.

"You're still upset. I thought that you and your mom talked everything out this weekend."

"You mean when you lock this in a room together. We're better. The whole thing is something I have to get used to. Dad is still a major problem. He still hasn't returned any of the phone calls from Tiffany or me."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"After class," Chad said as they walked into the English building.

"Fine, but you have to tell me everything this time, otherwise I am sleeping in my own room tonight." Sharpay said as she went to give him one more kiss before they enter the classroom.

As they took their normal seats in the classroom Professor Jackson noticed Sharpay's engagement ring.

"And you two hated each other at the beginning of the school year." Professor Jackson said as he handed out the guidelines for their final project for this semester.

**November 28, 2009 9:23 PM.**

She could not believe that Sharpay locked her and her son in a room together. She couldn't believe that her - whatever Jack was to her actually helped. She's been trapped in this room with her son for 15 minutes and they haven't said a single word to each other. They have been practically avoiding each other for the last 24 hours since he found out about her and Jack.

She was upset about the engagement and he was freaked out about her sleeping with Jack. It probably didn't help, that she accidentally walked in on Sharpay and her son engaging in some extremely heavy kissing this morning. Actually, it was probably more than kissing considering her sons hand disappeared somewhere underneath Sharpay's top.

There was also the fact that Chad walked in on her and Jack doing more than kissing earlier today. What she said about not doing anything until after the divorce papers were signed when out the window the moment they were alone together.

"She's not going to let us out of here until we talk to each other is she?" Caroline asked her son.

"This is Sharpay were talking about. She is the most stubborn woman I have ever met. It takes sometimes days to convince her that she is wrong. She's not letting us out of here until we actually talk to each other."

"Yet you still want to marry her?"

"Yes. Are you still upset about us getting married?" Chad asked his mother with a touch of anger in his voice.

"Yes. It's not like I don't like the girl, because I really do. I know that she cares about you greatly. She understands you as well as I do. That is why she locked us in this room together. She knew eventually we would get bored and start talking to each other." Caroline tell her son this with a smile.

"That's what happened this summer with me and Pay. We were waiting in line to register for classes and we started talking to each other about everything. Not just about silly things like what classes we were taking. Even in that first conversation, I told her things that I never told Taylor. I did not see Sharpay again until school started because I spent the rest of the summer with you in DC. When school started, we just connected in a way that we didn't before."

"Was that when you stopped hating her?" Caroline asked her son.

"Mom I've never hated her. I've wanted to throw her and her golf cart into a Lake, but I never hated her. Although I also wanted to push her up against the golf cart and…"

"Don't finish that sentence. I like to live in ignorance about what you and your girlfriend do until after the wedding and you show up to DC with my grand babies."

"Sharpay's dad said about the same thing. I would like the same promise from you. I don't want to know about what you and Jack do together until Troy and I share a half brother or sister. "

"Like that's going to happen." Caroline wasn't even sure what she was doing with Jack would go beyond this weekend. For all she knew this could be two friends helping each other.

"Kim stepmom is eight years older then you and she's pregnant."

"Would you be okay if that happened?" Caroline wanted to know if her son was okay with her having a relationship with Jack.

"Not really, but in time I could get used to it. I'm more okay with you and Jack than I am with the Tiffany situation."

"I thought you started to like Tiffany. Especially after you found out your dad didn't have a secret girlfriend after the divorce."

"No, dad just had one during your marriage. I like Tiffany as a friend. I do not like her as a possible stepmother or as the mother of my half siblings. Unfortunately I don't have any say in that situation whatsoever. I like Mr. Bolton. I just find the situation disturbing." At that Caroline scoot over to her son in place her arm around him.

"Sometimes I wish you were still little and I could protect you from everything."

"Mom that's part of the problem. I'm not a little kid anymore. You could have told me about Tiffany. You can't protect me from the world anymore. Dad is a complete prick. I get that. You can't hide reality from me like you did when I was little. Mom you have to let me grow up."

"I know. It's just you are my baby. I've known this day was coming when you came home from kindergarten complaining about the Evans girl that took your chocolate milk. Even when you and Sharpay are celebrating your 25th anniversary you are going to be my baby."

"Mom, it's not like we are asking you to sign the papers so we can get married tomorrow. We're planning on a long engagement."

"How long?"

"No earlier than 2011."

"How about 2012?"

"What about new year's eve 2011. The wedding will start on Sharpay's birthday but will end on my birthday."

"Ask me again in June of 2011."

**December 1, 2001 11:03 AM**

Amanda walked into Martha Evans hall to eat lunch with Marc, Nikki, Chad, and Sharpay. It was the only day of the week that they all had the same time set aside for lunch. After grabbing a sandwich from the deli, Amanda said down with her friends at their usual table in the corner. Marc and Nikki were only happy to see her because she would continue the story.

"There's our favorite storyteller now." Marc said as Amanda took her seat across from him and Nikki.

"You didn't tell us the Bolton thanksgiving fiasco made the papers." Nikki said to her.

"It wasn't Thursday's events that made the papers. It was the fact that Mrs. Bolton hid $0.5 million from the IRS. Of course, the fact that she got that money through very illegal means is another reason why she was arrested. Things are complicated."

"Tell us what didn't make the papers?" Nikki said as she took a bite of her salad.

"Do you guys remember chad's ex girlfriend Taylor."

"Jason sister right?" For some reason Amanda didn't tell them that Taylor was adopted.

"Yes. As we were here in thanksgiving hell, Taylor was with Ryan in NYC for the week. Ryan invited Gabriella, Taylor's former best friend and Troy's ex girlfriend as well. He wanted Taylor and Gabriella two kiss and make up. Unfortunately Gabriella was only interested in kissing Ryan."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this story?" Marc said as he took a drink of his soda.

"It turns out Gabriella was only interested in Ryan as a way to get back with Troy." Amanda said to both of them.

"You mean Kim's fiancée and father of her son."

"At the time Gabriella didn't know any of this."

"Troy is as bad as Chad. " Nikki mumbled to herself

"Gabriella was throwing herself at Ryan the entire time. The thing was Taylor was actually starting to have real feelings for Ryan."

"Who won the battle for Ryan Evans?"

"As you can see from this almost pornographic clip, Taylor McKessie is the winner."

"Is he actually taking her bra off with his teeth?"

"Yes and I'm not sending you a copy. A very angry Gabriella captured this wonderful clip. A little after this, Gabriella got a call from Troy's evil mommy. To add more craziness to last Thursday Lucy invited Gabriella to Thanksgiving dinner."

"That's like throwing a match on a pile of newspapers." Nikki said to everyone.

"Only if the papers are doused in gasoline," Amanda heard Sharpay say from behind her. Chad and Kim were walking with her.

"You're telling the story of this weekend's insanity?" Kim said taking the chair next to Nikki. The happy love birds were sitting next to her holding hands and kissing each other every 10 seconds. If Amanda was not single she would probably find the whole thing cute. At this point, Amanda was slightly nauseated.

"OK let's see the ring," Nikki asked Sharpay.

"Very nice. You have good taste Chad." Marc said to everyone.

"Chad's grandmother has good taste. This is the loner ring until we pick out our actual rings in a couple weeks."

"Look it is my brand new roommate." Nikki said with a sigh as Penelope entered their section.

"What did you do to deserve that?" Sharpay said in sympathy.

"I wouldn't leave so my roommate could have sex with her boyfriend." Nikki said with a sigh as Penelope took the empty seat at the table next to Chad. Penelope was wearing her usual trashy wardrobe.

"Hello Chad. I just found out I'm moving to your floor. Isn't that great. Maybe we can hang out sometime." If Amanda had not seen Penelope all over Chad before she would be shocked by this behavior.

Everybody knows that for Penelope, hang out is a code word for fuck. Amanda cannot use of nicer euphemism to describe it. People in committed relationships such as Chad and Sharpay make love. People like Penelope who don't respect themselves do that other word.

Sharpay being upset about Penelope trying to run her hand down the front of Chad's lap, quickly flashed her ring finger in Penelope face. Her, Nikki, Marc, and Kim quickly snapped a shot of Penelope.

"I don't think my fiancée would like that." Chad said as he moved Sharpay into his lap and started kissing her. This was not the type of kiss that should be occurring in the cafeteria at 11:15 AM. They can all see Chad's hands all over Sharpay's backside. When Sharpay started moaning as Chad started kissing her neck Penelope finely left the table.

"She is gone now you can come up for air." Amanda said to Chad and Sharpay as they continued to fondle each other in public.

"Okay you two win for most creative way to announce your engagement." Nikki said as she threw a French fry at the couple.

"They are too lost in each other." Kim said as she grabbed a piece of ice out of her drink and threw it at Sharpay. That caused the couple to finally break apart. "You guys are in public. Keep It PG 13."

"You're one to talk. You and Troy gave new meaning to the phrase PDA." Sharpay said to Kim.

"As much fun as this is, can we please get back to the story?" Nikki said calming the two girls down.

**November 27, 2008 2:13 PM**

Jack pulled outside a house that wasn't really his anymore with his son, grandson, almost daughter in law, and the barely legal girl that his college friend got pregnant. The fact that Kim and Tiffany were exchanging pregnancy horror stories just made the entire situation more surreal. Their stories just made him angrier with Lucy and Charles.

He only came to support Troy when he told the family about Alex. He would tell everybody in a few weeks about the breakup of his marriage. Today he would just go through the motions.

"Deep cleansing breath. Just remember Troy that if they hate us, we probably will not have to see them ever again. Considering your parents are getting a divorce this is your final family holiday." Kim said as he grabbed Alex out of the car seat.

"That's so reassuring." Troy said as he grabbed Alex's diaper bag.

"Your family cannot react any worse than mine. My mom is still not talking to me. Of course this is after she cut me out of the will." Tiffany said to Kim.

"My mom not only did that, but she also hired a hit man to crash into my car in hopes of triggering a miscarriage. That's why Alex was delivered by emergency caesarean early. They have never been able to prove it. " Considering everything he found out in the last 24 hours about Kim's mother, he shouldn't be surprised that she tried to have her own grandchild killed. Judging by Troy's lack of reaction he already knew.

"She told me in Vegas." Troy told him. Before Jack could continue asking his son more questions a cab pulled up to the house. Thankfully, it was his mother and not his mother in law. Considering his mom hated Lucy she was probably going to start doing cartwheels when she found out about the divorce.

"There's my favor grandson." His Mother Karen said as wrapped Troy In a hug.

"I am your only grandson. Uncle Dave only has girls."

"Who is this very pregnant young lady with you. I hope she's not your girlfriend. I'm too young to be a great grandmother." Both Troy and Kim went very pale at that statement.

"This is Tiffany. Charles's ex girlfriend is the one carrying Chad's half siblings." Jack said as he got his mother's bags out of the cab.

"That boy was always in to young girls. It was a shame what he did to Caroline." Karen said as she went to pay the driver.

"Grandma always liked Chad's mother more than my mother." Jack could hear Troy whispered to Kim.

"There's probably a reason for that. It will probably come in handy when she finds out that they are now dating." Kim whispered back to Troy.

"Yes I am the latest victim of Charles Danforth. Fortunately, I figured out what an evil bastard he was before the wedding. The wonderful woman over there is carrying your great grandson." Tiffany said as she walked into the house.

"What do you mean great grandson?"

"Grandma I'm just going to go put your luggage in Kim's car. You're going to be staying at our house." On the ride their, Kim agreed to let his mom stay with her and Troy.

"You're not leaving me until I get some answers. Whom is this young woman holding your hand? Why does the child she is holding look exactly like you at that age? Finally, why does my 18 year old grandson have his own house?" The group quickly moved to the couches on the porch.

"This is your great grandson Alexander Troy Kim–Bolton." His mother almost looked like she was about to have a heart attack.

"Why am I just finding out about this now? It's obvious that you have had a child for a couple years. You also had a completely different girlfriend last time I was here.

"It's a very complicated story." Troy said to her.

"We have time. If I go inside, I'm just going to get in a fight with your mom."

"So would the rest of us." Kim said under her breath.

"I think I need a glass of wine for this conversation. Jack could you please go inside and get me something to drink." Jack knew his mother wanted to talk to Troy alone.

"Actually I could use a glass of wine myself. let me go with you." Kim said as she got up taking Alex with her.

"Troy's Aunt Julia controls the liquor at these things. She's obsessed about not serving the underage."

"Good thing I turned 21 yesterday." Kim said as she walked through the front door.

As he followed behind her he heard his mother say, "How old were you two when you conceived my great grandchild?"

He was grateful that no one in the family asked questions about Kim as they walked to the drinks. It probably helped that Troy wasn't holding her hand. As usual, Julia was controlling the Bar.

"Jack where were you this morning? Lucy was here all by herself doing the last minute preparations until I got here." He hated Julia.

"This is Troy's new girlfriend Kimberly. I was invited to spend the morning at her parents' house." Jack wasn't sure what last name to give. He was sure that Julia would go into cardiac arrest if she found out that Troy's girlfriend had the last name Bolton now.

"That's funny this morning Lucy said Troy's girlfriend's name was Gabriella." Julia said with a confused frowned.

"Of course she did. I'm going to need that wine now. Also could you give me a shot of rum?" Kim said as she grabbed a diet caffeine free coke from the cooler and poured It into a glass.

"Lucy doesn't like Troy's new girlfriend because she has a child." Jack decided not to mention that the child was Troy's. "I thought you were drinking the wine?"

"I am. The coke is for Troy. I need my boyfriend mellow. He is too edgy after your talk." Jack was going to ask her how a coke would mellow out his son when he figured out what the rum was for.

"I'm going to need to see some ID before you can take that. I doubt that Troy's girlfriend is old enough to drink.

"Trust me Julia she's 21."

"It's fine. Will you hold Alex for a minute while I get my driver's license out." He was sure that Julia was noticing how much Alex looked like Troy. When Kim gave Julia her driver's license she went completely silent for a few minutes.

"That driver's license has your new legal name?" Jack asked as he realized why Julia was so quiet.

"Of course it does, I had to get a new one yesterday no matter what."

"You're not just Troy's girlfriend." Julia said with a touch of anger.

"No she's not." Jack said to Juliet as Kim poured the Rum into the coke.

"That child is Troy's?" He and Kim both nodded their agreement.

"Troy Alexander Bolton get in here right now." Julia yelled so loud that Troy probably would heard her if he was still in California.

Troy quickly ran into the room when he heard Julia screaming. Can quickly passed the drink to Troy as he grabbed her hand.

"How could you get married without telling anybody?" This is how all of Troy's aunts and uncles as well as Lucy's mother found out about Kim and Alex."

**The present**

Both Marc and Nikki were laughing hysterically at this point. "I would like to know how you told everybody that you are not married to Troy yet?" Marc asked the group as he tried to stop laughing.

"Actually they still think we're married. It was easier than explaining the true circumstances. When we actually get married we are just going to tell them it's a vowel renewal ceremony." The real reason they went what the lie was to keep certain family members from freaking out even more.

"So do any of Troy's family actually like you?" Nikki asked as she regained her composure.

"Grandma Karen does. Although that may have something to do with the fact that she is staying with me for the next few weeks. She is staying down to help with the divorce. She's actually watching Alex right now because the service will not send another nanny. Troy and I are currently looking at day care options."

"We got their right when Troy's aunt called for him. We could hear the whole thing from the car." Chad said as he grabbed a piece of fruit from Sharpay's plate.

"The argument was so intense that no one noticed Mr. Bolton was holding Caroline's hand the entire time. Of course, that was just the warm up for the main show. Tiffany got some great shots of the chaos." Amanda said as she pulled out her phone.

"Where was Troy's mom when all this was going on?" Marc asked quickly."

"Lucy was picking up Gabriella from the Airport. By this point Gabriella was aware that Lucy was using her and she decided to hide in the tree house as the chaos was going on. Miraculously Gabriella and Grandma Bolton ended up on the same flight sitting next to each other. Without even knowing it, Troy's grandmother help defuse the situation greatly." Amanda said this as she activated the slide show.

"Unfortunately, no one knew Gabriella was hiding in the tree house." Kim said with a sigh.

"You and Troy didn't go outside for some private time did you? Nikki asked Kim.

"Troy and his grandmother finished up their conversation outside underneath the tree. Gabriella heard everything from when Troy and I first got together until the day before when we found out Lucy was using Gabriella to keep us apart. Gabriella was not happy."

"She was also off her medication. It turns out Gabriella was not evil, just crazy." Sharpay said as she started to eat her fat free pudding pop.

"You can't say that Sharpay." Chad said to her quickly as he kissed her cheek.

"Yes I can. I see a therapist three times a week." Sharpay said in reply.

"Gabriella is bipolar. Nobody knew because she never told anybody, not even Troy. She was diagnosed a couple of months before she moved here. When she got to Stanford she stopped taking her medication." Kim told everyone quietly.

"At least we now know who was hospitalized." Marc said with a laugh.

"It's not funny Marc." Kim said somberly. "She could've really hurt herself. Troy is really upset that he didn't know that something was seriously wrong." Troy was blaming himself for what happened. He was upset that he was so focused on everything with her and Alex that he did not see how bad things were with Gabriella.

"Fortunately the only person she hurt was Lucy." Amanda said as she pulled up the shot of Gabriella knocking Troy's mom out.

"She was so out of it, Gabriella does not remember doing it." Kim said taking the last drink of her soda. "Actually Gabriella doesn't remember anything from arriving in Albuquerque until waking up in a hospital a few days ago after they started giving her medication again." Gabriella's mother was providing her and Troy with regular updates on the situation.

"So I'm guessing Gabriella was the other person who got arrested?" Nikki asked the others.

"Not yet. None of us told the police that Gabriella hit Lucy. They can't pick her up until she stable anyway. It may take the doctors weeks to get her medication right." Kim said sadly.

"I'm sure the cops are going to know what happened by Mrs. Bolton's bloody nose."

"I forgot to tell you about the other guests at Thanksgiving. Before leaving Manhattan Gabriella left a note about where she was going. Ryan, Taylor and Gabriella's mom were so freaked out about what could happen that they flew all the way to New Mexico for a intervention." Amanda said to Marc and Nikki.

"Why didn't they call?" Marc asked in confusion.

"They did. Unfortunately, we kept losing cell phones." Kim said quietly.

"The lack of warning led to this fabulous picture of Maria Montez knocking out Troy's mom. We also have another picture of Maria throwing Lucy into a wall." Amanda said showing off the pictures.

"As a parent, I can honestly say the worst thing to do is mess with someone's child. If someone did to Alex what Lucy did to Gabriella it would have took more than six cops and a therapist to get me off the woman."

"I didn't get to see these pictures. Sharpay said as she grabbed the cell phone from the center of the table.

"You were there. Why do you need to see pictures of the whole thing?" Nikki asked in confusion.

"Chad and Sharpay disappeared up to Troy's room the moment they stepped onto the property."

When they went to pick up Troy's things Saturday Kim found a condom wrapper in the trash. Considering she didn't win the bet, Kim had a feeling that Sharpay did to Chad what she was currently doing to her pudding pop. She would ask Sharpay about it when they were alone. After the Internet incident, Sharpay was very sensitive about certain aspects of her relationship with Chad.

"I went straight upstairs because if I didn't I was going to punch out Coach Bolton for sleeping with my mother." Chad said with a bit of anger.

"I just went upstairs to calm him down. Things were too chaotic by that point."

"You did a wonderful job. By the time you two showed up downstairs Chad looked a lot calmer and remarkably happy." Amanda said with a giggle.

"Orgasms can be very calming." Nikki said out loud to the entire table. Sharpay almost choked on her Popsicle when Nikki said that. Everyone was gawking at Sharpay.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Sharpay said realizing everybody was looking at her.

"Because you're currently deepthroating a Popsicle like it is Chad. That's probably what you did upstairs Thursday. So was Sharpay any good? She's definitely having fun with that Popsicle right now." It was obvious that Marc's joke made Sharpay very mad. Chad looked ready to smack him upside the head.

If they were alone Sharpay would just laugh it off and tell them what she actually did with Chad. That's how her and Amanda found out about the rehearsal room incident at Lava Springs.

Instead, Sharpay slammed the Popsicle down on the plate and got up from the table. Chad followed behind making some excuse about needing to get to class. Considering their next class wouldn't start for 25 minutes she knew it was a lie.

"Great now we will never know what they did." Nikki said with a pout.

"Maybe it's none of your business." Amanda said in anger.

"You were joking about it too."

"Yes but unlike you two I know when to stop. I'm actually their friend. Don't you think that after everything that happened with the almost sex tape, they don't want their personal lives exposed in the cafeteria. Do you even care about what happen this weekend? Are you just listening to this story for your entertainment? There's a fine line here and you guys crossed it. I think I need to get to class too." Amanda said grabbing her tray.

"Great now we're not going to find out the rest of the story."

"At this point everything is on CNN . com. There is also information in their about how the police finally found evidence that my mother actually hired someone to try to murder my unborn child when I was pregnant with Alex. You can read about how she skip the country to avoid prosecution. There is nothing like having your entire life exposed for the entertainment of others. Now excuse me I need to leave for class so the media can follow me around. Maybe you want to join them?" Kim said sarcastically as she left the table.

* * *

Chad managed to catch up with a very pissed off Sharpay halfway to the science building. He quickly wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"No. I can't believe they asked that question. I'm so tired of my personal life being put on display. At least Gabriella was unwell when she posted that video. What we do together is private. They see it as some big joke. They are still running that pool on when will have sex for the first time."

"So are you mad about Marc and Nikki or something else?" Chad asked his girlfriend as they continued walking to class.

"You know me too well. Did you read the society page today?"

"You know that if I read the paper it's usually the sports section."

"Don't worry Penelope must not read it either, otherwise she wouldn't be that shocked about our engagement. I'm just glad I was able to tell Ryan everything before it made the papers." Sharpay said as she pulled out the morning paper from her bag.

On page three, was an article all about their engagement and her parents splitting up. Highlighted was a sentence about alleged allegations of child abuse. There in black and white for all of Albuquerque to see was the ugliness of the Evans family and Sharpay's childhood.

"Apparently one of your family members gave this story to the paper. There is even a photo of us getting engaged. I should probably send Lucy a fruit basket for creating such a scandal. Most people are too concerned with the Romeo and Juliet of Albuquerque to read about the super dysfunctional Evans family."

"Maybe everyone will focus on our engagement. That's the good part."

"Mr. Jackson read the whole thing. That is why he let you and I switch topics this morning. He didn't want either of us to be upset."

"That's why I now have to write a 10 page paper about whether Darth Vader was good or evil instead of doing one on adulterers?

"I have to do my essay on Nelson Mandela now. Have you read his biography? That book is three inches thick." Sharpay said with a pout. Just then Amanda caught up with them.

"I just want to apologize for the behavior of my friends. They have no social skills. I can't take them anywhere." Amanda said with a smile.

"That's okay." Sharpay said to her.

"I didn't tell them about everything that happened this weekend. They do not know about Taylor being adopted or that Darby used to hit you. That stuff was too personal for them to know about."

"Thank you. I'm just tired of everybody watching my life. There even getting worse with the pool. One of these days Marc is going to walk into our bedroom with a black light." Sharpay said bitterly.

"I came up with the solution for the pool problem." Amanda said as she passed a computer printout to Sharpay.

"What's this?" Sharpay asked Amanda.

"That is a list of everyone who is participating in the bet. For all the other bets there is a way to validate the results. For this one they will only know if you tell them. Here's my idea. Pick someone on the list that you like. Then choose that day to tell everyone that was your first time together. No one's going to know that it's a lie." Chad thought that idea was brilliant

"Inauguration day," Sharpay said without prompting.

"Why that day? Amanda asked Sharpay.

"That is the day Taylor chose for the pool. If anybody deserves the money, it's her."

"What about spring break?"

"Do you really think people will believe we made it that long?" Sharpay asked with a laugh.

"You're right. You should go was something more plausible." Amanda said as they entered the science building.

* * *

Kim pulled up to EHS 15 minutes earlier than usual. She knew at least three members of the media were following. There were four more waiting on the steps of the school. Thankfully, they couldn't come inside the school. She snuck in the school through the secret gym entrance. She saw that her almost father in law actually did show up to work today.

After she ditched the evil two Kim called Troy. The press was following him around too. The scandal finally hit the National Media. Considering her mother was now an international fugitive she knew it would.

Kim Walked into Ms. Ortega classroom as slowly as possible and took her usual seat at the table in the back.

"Are you okay? I wasn't expecting you to be here today considering what happened." Ms. Ortega gave her the same look that everybody gave her today. She hated that look. They were all trying to apologize for something that they didn't do.

"I'm fine. I need to be here if I want to get the credit."

"You need a day off. I saw the fight between you and Lucy Tuesday. I know that things are worse than what the papers reported."

"Jack is here. Things were a lot worse for him then it was for me. I always knew my mom was a power hungry megalomaniac with no regard for anyone else whatsoever. Why should I be surprised that she embezzled money from my trust fund, she conspired with Troy's mom to keep us apart, or that she really did try to kill her own grandson? Why should I be surprised that Lucy's meddling put Troy's ex girlfriend in the mental hospital? I've accepted that. I'm not gonna let them keep me from doing my job."

"If you say so. If you need to leave early you can."

10 minutes later after fielding inappropriate questions about her relationship with Troy and why her new last name is Bolton, Kim was ready to leave. Then she noticed that Jason wasn't there. Kim knew that Sharpay dropped him off this morning. She also knew that Jason was mad at her for shattering his perfect family image.

"Kerri where is Jason?" She asked the girl who would most likely know.

"He is probably on the roof again. Jackie said he went up there first period. Mr. Bolton went and got him. However, he let him stay in the library instead of going to class."

"I'll go get him." Kim volunteer just so she could get out of there. She knew that she had no hope of getting Jason off the roof. This is going to take reinforcements.

* * *

Jack truly hated his boss. Dave spent 30 minutes ranting about the Lucy situation and the fact that his perfect statistic involving no teen pregnancies at the school was completely ruined by Troy and Kim. Jack wanted to point out the fact that statistic only existed because Dave usually pressured students to transfer to the alternative school for teen parents.

Because of the Principle, Jack arrived late to his first class to find that Jason McKessie was hiding out on the roof. He was probably the only faculty member that knew what happened this weekend. Jack could understand. He personally wanted to hide on the roof too.

The rest of the day, students kept asking him inappropriate questions about the situation with his wife and the Romeo and Juliet of Albuquerque Kim and Troy. Thank god, he didn't have to deal with any of the seniors that were actually here when Troy and Kim were together. The two were a lot less discreet then they thought they were. Jack heard more rumors about his son doing inappropriate things with Kim during his sophomore year than ever before.

At least nobody knew what Jack did with Caroline this weekend except for Jason. This may be why he let Jason stay in the library during class today. His new girlfriend Caroline, warned him about Jason's plans for today's class. Jason was definitely showing his age.

To top off this absolutely fabulous day, he was watching a class for another teacher who was out sick today during his free period. Actually the only good part of his day was when he exchanged text messages with Caroline during both of his gym classes.

"What are you doing here?" Sharpay asked as she walked into the classroom to see him at Ms. Darbus's desk.

"Ms. Darbus is out sick today." Everybody was aware that Ms. Darbus was out sick a lot this semester.

"It's not like it's the first time she's been sick and there hasn't been a substitute teacher. Usually they leave me here by myself. After that incident two years ago when we cause the substitute to start smoking again, they usually don't get substitutes for Ms. Darbus."

"I think the Principal is mad at both of us. This cannot be worse than when I used to teach freshman English."

"Yes it can be. This is freshmen drama."

10 minutes after fielding several questions about her engagement to Chad, Sharpay divided the students into groups to go over various scenes. Sharpay was currently working with Jackie Nelson. Jack was surprised nobody asked him or Sharpay about Troy and Kim. Just then Kim actually walked into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Jack asked Kim

"Jason is missing again."

"He's probably on the roof."

"We both know he is not going to leave with me. I came to get Sharpay to get him and possibly take him home." At this point, Sharpay return to the two of them.

"I can do that. I'm still on the pre approved list of people who can check him out." Sharpay said as she grabbed her bag and jacket.

"You're not leaving me by myself with the drama students." Jack said in a near panic.

"I'll stay. I'm sure the students will ask me less invasive questions."

"I doubt that. " Jack said to himself.

"Okay students. Ms. Evans needs to go for the rest of the class. I'm going to be taking over. You already have your assigned parts. Please work on those parts with your current partner for the next 35 minutes, then you are going to switch. Now before we break off, I have a few questions. How many people here knew that Alex is Troy son before the newspaper article this morning?" Every student in the classroom raised his or her hand.

"Is anyone going to ask questions I'm not going to answer?" Not one student raised his or her hand.

"If we do anything stupid you won't let Alex be in the spring musical." Jackie said from behind her. Of course, they already have his grandson poised to be a thespian.

"They're much easier to handle then the English students. I'll take care of the class and you go back to sending inappropriate text messages to you know who." The last part was said low enough that only he could hear it.

* * *

Sharpay found Jason right on the roof as expected . He was reading his current assignment for English. Only Jason McKessie would skip class to come up here and do homework.

"Put the book down Jason. You and I are going to take a drive."

15 minutes later after filling out the necessary forms Jason and Sharpay were driving out of the parking lot.

"This entire time we've been focusing on trying to convince you that Taylor is still your sister even though she's biologically Vanessa's daughter. I think we keep missing the real problem."

"What's the real problem?" Jason said to her.

"Your parents lied to you. You had this perfect family and now it is not perfect anymore. Now you don't know what to do because things are not the way they were before." Sharpay understood that feeling completely.

"How can you understand? You have the perfect family." Jason asked her with a touch of anger in his voice.

"You do not read the society page. My parents are in the middle of a messy divorce because my mom was sleeping with one of Chad's distant relatives."

"That's not that bad."

"Of course there's also the fact that my mom used to hit me until I was about your age.

"Okay that's bad."

"She pushed me to join every production possible. I also suffered years of psychological abuse."

"Okay that is really bad."

"Let me ask you some important questions Jason. Did your parents ever hit you?"

"No,"

"Did they ever make you feel like you're worthless?"

"No,"

"Did they ever pushy to do things you didn't want to?"

"I'm a 12 year old in high school."

"I doubt you would be here if you didn't want to be. Jason, how old were you when parents started letting you sit on your IEP meetings?

"I've always been allowed to sit on my IEP meetings."

"Chad and Amanda where not allowed to sit on their meetings until they were your age. Even then, Amanda's parents didn't give her much of a say. I am not saying you have to forgive your parents. All I'm saying is go talk to them. You haven't spent more than 5 minutes with the two of them since you found out Thursday."

"I'm not going to win am I?"

"No"

2 hours later after moderating the McKessie heart to heart sharpay finally made it home. She walked in to see her boyfriend putting up his basketball gear.

"So how was practice?" Sharpay asked as she kissed him.

"Miserable as usual. Apparently, the entire basketball team reads the society page. I suffered dirty jokes about getting married at 18. Apparently the coach is the only one who actually knows I am 17. Otherwise the jokes would be worse. So how was your afternoon?" Chad said wrapping his arms around sharpay.

"I watched your future stepfather terrified the drama students. I found out from Jackie the reason Kelsey broke up with my brother. There is a reason why he's now sleeping with your ex girlfriend. I spent of the most afternoon with Jason. Right now, I want to crawl into bed with my boyfriend and do my reading for English class.

"That works for me." Chad said kissing her on the forehead as he pulled her onto the bed.

**A/N:If you want to read about the fight at the Bolton house it is in chapter four of the story _Gabriella Ryan Taylor Manhattan_. I did not want to write the same scene twice.**


	23. What's Your Fantasy?

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. We are officially done with the thanksgiving arc and are approaching the end of semester one.

_**This chapter will have multiple fantasy sequences that are italicized. **_

**The concept for this chapter was inspired by an episode of **_**Daria **_**called**_** Write When it Hurts**_

Warning: high amounts of sexual content

Chapter 23 What Is Your Fantasy?

**December 5, 2008 11:25 AM**

Sharpay made her way to the office section of the Drama building. This morning it took her 15 minutes to lose the media following her around. She wasn't sure if they were following her to get the dirt on her parents' divorce or the whole mess with Troy and Kim. The media was currently focusing on the fact Lucy was out on bail by Kim. Kim decided the best way to hurt Lucy was to be nice to her.

Sharpay had a 11:30 AM appointment with her drama advisor. She was supposed to meet with her faculty adviser in the drama department before scheduling for spring semester but was unable to because of scheduling conflicts. Her advisor still insisted that she come see her anyway.

Sharpay had no idea what good it would do at this point. She was able to meet with her adviser in the school of business a few weeks before she scheduled classes. Because of her double major, she wouldn't be graduating until spring 2013 unless she took summer session. In contrast, Chad could graduate as early as fall 2011 even with his minor.

This meant that Chad would be stuck waiting around New Mexico until she graduated. Albuquerque wasn't exactly known for computer programming jobs. They were not even married yet and they were already experiencing the two bodies' problem.

Sharpay was broken out of her thoughts when she finally found her advisers office. Sarah Long was a former stage actress who specialized in classical Greek tragedy. Her office was decorated with posters from some of her previous shows. Sharpay thought it was over the top. Her high school self would have did something similar.

"Hello Sharpay. Have a seat. I wish we could have met a couple of weeks ago before you register for spring classes. I guess that's what pink slips are for." Sarah said as Sharpay quickly made her way to one of the lush velvet couches.

"That's okay. Thank you for seeing me, but I don't think it's necessary. I already met with my other faculty adviser Mr. Carl and have my classes together for next semester. He thinks I'm crazy for double majoring in acting and business."

"Personally I think it's brilliant if that's what you want to do. I don't know how many actors have been taken advantage of by their management or have squandered everything away." Sarah said as she took a sip of her tea.

"What do you mean by 'if that is what I really want to do'?" Sharpay found that turn of phrase unusual for some reason.

"Let me ask you this Sharpay, why are you a business major?" It wasn't like Sharpay was never asked that question before.

"I don't want to be an E true Hollywood story." Sharpay said with a tiny laugh that was obviously forced. Everyone believed that explanation except Chad.

"Good stage answer. Now give me your real answer." This woman was as good as Chad when it came to catching her in a lie.

"Somebody has to carry on the Evans corporate legacy. My brother cannot balance a checkbook half the time. He is a dancer, not a real estate developer. My friend Kim has the same problem. However, she is going to hire good advisers instead of running the company herself." Sharpay doubted that she had the same freedom as Kim.

"Good you are being honest. That's the first step in figuring out who you want to be. Now here's the harder question, why do you want to be an actress?" No one ever asked Sharpay that question before.

"I've been performing since I was barely older than my friend's toddler. In Fifth grade, I wrote my first Oscar acceptance speech for a creative writing assignment. I'm supposed to be on Broadway someday." Sharpay said giving the answer that everyone expected from her.

"That's not an answer Sharpay. Why do you want to be an actor now?" Sharpay sat there silently for a few minutes. Why did she still want to be an actor? She thought back to last spring during the senior year play fiasco. She was miserable.

Last year she wanted to be an actor for the fame and fortune. Last year she wanted to be the center of attention. That was last year. She wasn't that person anymore, if she ever really was. Why did she want to act now? She didn't have an answer anymore.

"I don't know. I used to want to be famous."

"What do you want now? What's your fantasy?" Sharpay groaned the moment she heard the phrase.

"Please don't mention that phrase."

"I forgot about the unfortunate You Tube incident. I am sorry to bring it up. What I meant was, what do you want now?" Sarah said in apology with a slight blush. Did everybody see that tape?

"The You Tube thing is why I don't want to be famous anymore. I don't really enjoyed people running up to talk to me at the store. If I don't want to be famous, than why do I want to be onstage? I never really had much of a choice before. If you're reading the Albuquerque newspaper you know all about my parents' messy divorce. You may have even seen the interview from my old acting coach who remembered seeing me covered in bruises if I miss too many lines during rehearsal that day. Of course he was my acting coach when I was seven." Sharpay notice the sad look on professor Long's face. She's been seeing that look a lot lately.

"Now that you actually have a choice about whom you want to be? Maybe it's time to reevaluate your choice of major. Honestly, is this who you want to be in 25 years?" Sarah asked in a calm voice.

"The fact that I will not graduate until 2013 at the earliest is making me wonder if this is a good idea. I do not want to graduate a year and a half after my fiancé. On the other hand, I'm having a lot of fun working with the students at EHS this semester. Next semester I am going to be working with the Drama II class." Sharpay said with a smile that was actually genuine.

"You did a wonderful job with that play." Sarah's praise shocked her.

"You saw the play?" Sharpay asked in surprise.

"My daughter was cheerleader number four. I had to see her performance debut. My favorite part was the principal being carried away in a stretcher after that surprise ending." Sarah said as she grabbed a binder off her desk.

"Renee is your daughter? She did a really good job when Tierra tried to screw up her lines." Renee was in the other Drama I class with Chad's cousin Carmen.

"She told me what a brilliant director you were. I also know that you did the majority of the writing on that project. That was probably one of the best-written plays I have seen in a while."

"I cannot take credit for the ending. That was all Jason. " What most people remember about that play was the end.

"I assume that was your fiancé that you were kissing up there. That was not a stage kiss." Normally Sharpay would take that as a compliment, today it just pissed her off a little bit.

"You assume I don't have the acting chops to pull something like that off if it were not real?" Sharpay said defensively.

"I assumed it was real because your boyfriend had his hand on your ass the entire time. If you want to be an actor, you'll make a fine actor someday. I saw your performance this summer at the Albuquerque community theater. You were good. I'm just not sure that's what you want to be. I believe that you will be accepting an Oscar some day. I just think it's going to be for best original screenplay." Sarah past a binder to Sharpay containing information about the dramatic writing program at A of U.

* * *

_**Sharpay Evans-Danforth sat in the Kodak Theatre with her husband of five years waiting to find out if she finally achieved her childhood fantasy. **_

"_**Why do they have to put the screenplay awards tours the end of the show?" Sharpay whispered to her husband during the commercial break right before her category.**_

"_**I have no idea baby. Just think of it this way, if you were nominated for best actress we would have to wait another 35 minutes. It's supposed to be an honor just to be nominated." Her husband said to her as he placed a hand over her protruding abdomen. **_

"_**Tell that to Troy who just lost best supporting actor to Will Smith's son. I am here to win. Can you please stop playing with my stomach? Everybody's going to know if you keep doing that." She was referring to the fact that she was three months pregnant with their first child. She found out that she was pregnant from her best friend/Gynecologist Amanda the same day the nominations were announced.**_

"_**You're in the second trimester now. I think it would be okay if people found out." Chad said as he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.**_

"_**I'm just waiting for the perfect moment to tell everybody." So in their own conversation they missed Troy and his co star from his upcoming film approached the podium. **_

"_**I'm pleased to be up here to announce the nominees for best original screenplay. This year's nominees have truly elevated the art of writing in film." Troy said as the traditional award show banter began. Sharpay knew for a fact that Troy asked to do this award just in case she won.**_

"_**The nominees for best original screenplay are: Sharpay Evans-Danforth for Fear and Loathing in New Mexico; Nicolas Last for Death of the American Dream: Jose Flores for American self; and Natasha Cook for Good Bye Love. The winner is Sharpay Evans-Danforth for Fear and Loathing in New Mexico." Sharpay's mouth went wide open as Troy called out her name. Then she felt her husband mouth descend upon her in a searing kiss that was too hot for an Oscar telecast.**_

_**She could have sworn she heard Troy say, "You should probably cut to a commercial. This could take a while." After what seemed like an eternity, Chad let her go and she made her way to the stage. Troy gently kissed her on the cheek before handing her the award. "I always knew you would win." Troy whispered to her so the microphone would not pick it up.**_

"_**I think I took most of my speech time with that kiss." Everyone in the audience laughed at that. "I've been working on this speech sense the fifth grade. I'm going to deliver it. I like to thank all my friends, my producer, the brilliant cast who brought my words to life, and everyone else involved in the production. I like to thank my brother who was always there for me growing up. I just like to say I got an Oscar before you got a Tony. I win." She could see Ryan sticking out his tongue at her from the audience. **_

"_**The person I want to thank the most is my husband who has been with me since kindergarten. Thank you for being my sounding board and for telling me when my ideas are crazy. Thank you for loving me despite the fact I'm a bitch 90% of the time. I love you. I also want to thank someone who is not here with us yet. Stop playing the music you want to hear this. The day I found out I was nominated for this award, I also found out I was pregnant with our first child. Mr. Hilton you can stop blogging about my weight gain." Everyone started clapping. Troy was in shock behind her. They didn't tell anybody that she was pregnant yet, not even Ryan and Troy.**_

"_**Only you would tell everyone you're pregnant during your Oscar acceptance speech. Most people just put out a press release. My wife is going to hurt you for not telling her first. " Troy said as he walked her backstage.**_

"_**I'm not most people. Kim will get over it. Chad was getting antsy about keeping it from everybody. This is the perfect oppo**__**rtunity.**__** Darby probably had a heart attack when she saw this." Sharpay said as she stepped away from Troy into the waiting media.**_

* * *

Chad was supposed to meet Sharpay at Martha Evans Hall for lunch at 12:15. They've been eating at the cafeteria for most of the week because the reporters wouldn't follow them in there. They have repeated the phrase "no comment" so much recently that even Alex could say it.

He found his girlfriend hiding in the side room with a waffle Sunday on her plate, with a binder sitting next to her about the dramatic writing program. When Sharpay consumed anything like that meant something bad happened.

"How bad was the meeting with your faculty adviser?"

"How do you know it went badly?"

"You're eating a waffle Sunday with hot fudge, regular ice cream, and chocolate pieces. You only eat that when you are depressed or on your period. Considering what we did this morning I know it's not the latter." Chad said as he leaned down to kiss her.

"If you say that any louder, you won't get to venture down there any time soon." Sharpay said swatting him away.

"Like that's going to happen. You love all of the wicked things I can do with my tongue down there too much to actually follow through with that threat. I promise no more talk about what goes on in the bedroom until we get to the bedroom tonight. How did the meeting go? "

"My adviser feels that I shouldn't be an actor or a business person. Apparently, I don't have the talent for it either." Sharpay said as she took another bite of her Sunday.

"Is that what really happened?" Chad asked her skeptically.

"She didn't say it like that. It was more as if she said that I really didn't have an interest in those two areas."

Over the next 15 minutes, Sharpay preceded to tell him everything that was said at the session. This included the binder on information on the writing program and the suggestion for Sharpay to take a special creative writing class next semester.

"I know you may not want to hear this, but I think she's right." Chad said as he grabbed his girlfriend's hand.

"Why do you feel that way?" Sharpay said in a calm voice.

"I know you are majoring in business because you feel like you have to take over the family business someday. Do you really want to be the next Donald trump?" He asked her in all seriousness.

"Not really. I will admit I don't want to be a corporate tycoon like my father. In contrast, I always wanted to be onstage." He knew that was a lie.

"A couple of weeks ago you told me that you considered not majoring in acting this summer. You were absolutely miserable last year during the senior production."

"If Troy could actually remember the choreography instead of moping over Gabriella, I would not have been miserable. Thinking about it now maybe he was actually moping over Kim." Sharpay said with a pout as she grabbed one of his French fries and dipped it in her ice cream.

Last week Chad found out that Troy was miserable back then because he thought it was a repeat of the Kim situation. His mom kept making him see the similarities. She was the one who suggested that Troy drive to San Francisco to talk things out with Gabriella. She filled out the application on Troy's behalf for Berkeley. It was the former Mrs. Kim who arranged for the Berkeley scouts to come to East High in the first place.

This best friend heart to heart took place when Troy was yelling at him Last Sunday morning. Troy figured out that Sharpay gave Chad a hand job in Troy's bedroom during the great thanksgiving incident. That was a very uncomfortable conversation.

"That's beside the point Pay. I already know that Darby was the one who pushed you and Ryan to be in all those productions. I know you're a great actress. I will not argue that point. Do you want to be that for the rest of your life? I know that since you have been a little girl you have dreamed of being on Broadway. I also know that there are other things you love doing. You don't have to be Darby's lap dog anymore. You don't have to be a certain person just to carry on the Evans' name."

"That is because I will be carrying on the Evans–Danforth name instead." Sharpay said sarcastically. Last weekend they decided that they would both change their last name to Evans-Danforth once they got married. Chad was so pissed off at his father that he was willing to take the name Evans. Evans-Danforth was the compromise.

"All people who carry on the last name Evans–Danforth must be themselves. You need to find your new fantasy that is not influenced by Darby, your dad, or even me. You should take the creative writing class. You loved writing the play this semester. Last weekend when we were staying at the mansion, I found your boxes of short stories and poems. I even found this one thing that looks suspiciously like an Oscar acceptance speech." He remembered her giving that speech in fifth grade. Everyone thought she was crazy. He personally thought it was brilliant.

"On the way here I came up with this fantasy sequence about me excepting the award for best original screenplay." She admitted quietly.

"That just proves you're considering other options. You should take the class." Chad said as he placed an arm around her protectively.

"Because the special class is at the 300 level, the professor won't pink slip me in unless I write an audition piece. I need to write a 1000 word short story by Monday."

"You could write that on your smart phone." Chad said kissing her on the forehead.

"Yes but the story must be about my future. Other than us getting married at some point, I'm not sure of anything else."

"This is you pay. I'm not worried. I have an away game this weekend. That means you have plenty of time to write."

* * *

After her conversation with Chad, she spent an hour in the library trying to write her short story. She started writing a piece about her and Troy talking about their brand new film on a TRL like show. The whole thing ended with her and Troy being mobbed by fans. She was starting to think Chad and Sarah were right about her desire not to be an actress anymore.

On the drive to East High, she was going to ask Kim how she decided to be in education major. She never got the chance. Kim kept complaining about her evil almost mother in law who keeps calling the house, her crazy mother who was still a fugitive, Troy's grandmother who criticize everything she does with Alex, and the media that keep following her and Troy everywhere. Kim was so desperate to get away, she volunteered to be a chaperone at the winter ball next week.

Now they were talking about Kim's Gabriella problem. Sharpay personally wanted to forget about Gabriella.

"I really think you should go see her. It might help." Kim said as they started walking to the classroom.

"How will me yelling at her about the almost sex tape incident help her recovery? I don't want to talk to her right now or ever again for that matter. Can we talk about something else?" Sharpay said as they walked into Ms. Darbus's class room.

"How did your meeting with your adviser go?" Of course, Kim would bring up the other thing she doesn't want to talk about.

"She suggested I find a new major that I actually like and Chad agreed with her." Sharpay said as she placed her things in her usual seat.

"I wasn't going to say anything but…" Kim started but Sharpay already knew what she was going to say.

"You think they're both right." Sharpay said finishing for her.

"I saw the footage of the senior musical rehearsals and production. You were miserable. According to Troy this summer at the community theater production you were only happy if you were helping to direct the show or if you were rewriting the script. Troy told me the director gave you a smaller part just so you had more time to do the things that you actually liked doing. The love you once had for performing is gone."

Everybody knew she lost her love for performing including herself. She didn't want to admit it out loud to anybody except for Chad.

"Hypothetically, let's say that you're right and I don't want to be an actress anymore. How do I figure out what I want to be now? How did you decide to be in education major?"

"I want to hear this answer." Coach Bolton said to them as he walked into the room. It was the third time this week that Ms. Darbus wasn't in. Sharpay was starting to get worried that Ms. Darbus was sicker than she told Sharpay she was. She hoped this was not a repeat of ninth grade when Ms. Darbus missed a good portion of the first part of the school year because she was going through chemotherapy. Sharpay was one of the few students who knew Ms. Darbus was a breast cancer survivor.

"She's out sick again?" Sharpay asked with a hint of worry.

"Yes. I am the only teacher at East High that can actually work with you." Jack said to her.

"There is a good chance you're gonna be my future husband's stepfather. We have to get along. At least you didn't turn this into a study hall like Mr. Winter. The winter talent show is in less than two weeks and several of my students are performing. We need to rehearse."

"You're getting way to into this. To answer your question, I figured out I needed a new major when the doctor told me I was pregnant. I don't think my realization will help you." Kim told both of them.

"Many life choices have been determined by that statement. There's a reason why I taught high school English for several years even though it was my minor." Jack said to the two of them. At that moment, the bell signaled the beginning of the last period.

"I got to go. I'm riding back to the house with Jack tonight so you don't have to wait for me." Kim said as she left for Ms. Ortega's class.

20 minutes later after Sharpay had everybody working on their various assignments she walked back over to Jack who was grading quizzes for his health class.

"You know you're actually good at teaching." Jack said as he looked up from his quizzes.

"This is not teaching. This is directing. I'm great at telling people what to do."

"You're also great at showing students how to perform there scenes better. You know how to explain things in a way that students understand. I know that you're looking for a new career path. Have you ever considered being a teacher? Teaching is not the most well paid profession. Considering you have a trust fund just like Kim, I don't think you will care about that too much."

"Can you seriously see me as a teacher?" Sharpay asked Jack in all sincerity.

"Yes I can. The more important question is can you?"

* * *

_**Sharpay sat on her bed with laptop in hand, as she started to review the English exams. She had 20 essays to get through tonight. She was just glad students now typed everything in class instead of writing things out by hand.**_

_**She felt a headache coming on as she finished reading essay number 12. Some of the essays were good. A few were horrible. This one came straight from spark notes. Sharpay save the file she was working on as she heard her husband walked into the bedroom. **_

_**The best part of Chad's job as a software designer was he got to work from home. This meant a clean house and edible food that wasn't take out. Of the two of them Chad, was the one who could actually clean and knew how to cook.**_

"_**How are the exams coming?" Her husband asked as he sat on the bed next to her.**_

"_**12 down, eight more to go. I'm going to have to send Larry to principle Bolton's office for plagiarism. Kim is going to go off on him and I'm going to have to give him a zero for the project." As she was telling him this, he started massaging her shoulders.**_

"_**Pour baby." Chad said as he placed his mouth on her neck and began to suck gently as his hands began to move down to her waist. "I know what will make you feel so much better." Chad said as his hands began to undo her pants and his mouth continued kissing her heated skin.**_

"_**If I let you do that I'm never going to get done. " Sharpay said to him, but didn't do anything to stop him as he started lowering her jeans down her hips. He placed a kiss just above her navel as he did this. **_

"_**I can be quick." Chad said as he began to remove her top.**_

"_**Chad your idea of quick is anything under an hour. Not that I don't enjoy that." Sharpay said as she removed Chad's T shirt and threw it next to her discarded clothing. She wasn't going to stop this from happening. If she did, she would be too distracted to continue grading papers.**_

_**She let out a breathy moan as he took one of her lace covered nipples into his mouth. She always loved when he did that. As his hands and mouth continued to explore her body she made sure that, he was as equally naked as she was. Eventually his hand went to the nightstand where they kept the condoms. **_

_**A few months ago, she started having problems with her birth control pilsl and had to go off them. Ever since then they have been going through about three or four family packs a week. Tonight however Sharpay stopped him.**_

"_**I'm ready." Sharpay said as she took the condom out of his hand and threw it across the room.**_

"_**That's why I'm trying to get a condom." Her husband said to her.**_

"_**I mean I am ready to have a baby with you." Sharpay said as she began kissing him once more. They've been talking about this for a while, but Sharpay was always a little hesitant. She was terrified of ending up like Darby. Now she knew that wasn't going to happen.**_

"_**You really want to do this." Chad asked as he positioned himself at her entrance. She nodded yes and with that he was inside of her. Since the first time they made love all those years ago she always felt this sense of peace and completeness when he was in her. Even if they were going at it on the kitchen table or handcuffs were involved, she was most happy when they were connected like this. She loved everything they did together.**_

_**Chad had her so distracted she forgot to remove her computer from the bed. As her and Chad approach there orgasm she heard a crash. So caught up with the sensation of Chad comeing inside her during her own orgasm she didn't realize she just lost 2 hours of work. In the morning she would have to come up with a very good excuse for why the exams would be late that didn't involve her telling her ninth graders that she lost their test while she was having sex with her husband.**_

* * *

"You cannot turn that one in." Chad said as he placed a kiss on her shoulder. He showed up a few minutes ago after practice. They were supposed to go out tonight with Amanda and company. However, Sharpay was too into writing to get ready. Sharpay didn't realized he was standing behind her. After reading her essay, he was starting to come up with better things to do then go out to dinner with friends.

"How much of that did you just read?" Sharpay asked as she went slightly red.

"You're not allowed to blush because you wrote that. I read enough to know you have a very lucrative future in the erotic literature industry. That paper is going in the private collection right next to the DVD. How did a story about you being a teacher become a porno?" Chad asked his girlfriend as he kissed her.

"It wasn't that graphic. It is not pornography. It is art. I started writing a story about me being a teacher and it ended up becoming a story about us trying to conceive our first child. We were married for nine years in this story before we began trying to have a child." His girlfriend knew he was easily freaked out over the idea of an unplanned pregnancy.

"That part I find kind of sweet. This piece is just for me and you to enjoy." Chad said as he leaned over and kissed her once more.

"I completely agree. That means I'm going to have to write something else." Sharpay said as she powered down her laptop and moved over to their bed.

"Maybe you can just edit out the sexual stuff." Sharpay gave him the "you're absolutely crazy" look.

"There won't be anything left. That whole thing was sexual."

"You'll just have to write something else and hope it doesn't become a porno again." Chad said with a laugh as he wrapped his arms around her on the bed.

"This is so unfair. I had no problem coming up with a story about my possible future last year. I was going to be this big Star with tons of fans and lots of awards. I would have the best parts on stage and onscreen. My fantasy was complete with Oscar nominations, penthouse apartments, and dancing girls." Sharpay said as she leaned back into him.

"Where was I during this fantasy?" Chad asked her as he kissed her once more. He noticed her cheeks go very red. "I was actually there?"

"Everyone was there. Jason Cross and Zeke were my bodyguards. Taylor was a flight attendant. Kelsey was a cab driver. Troy was a crazy fan begging for my attention. Gabriella was my maid."

"I bet that was your favorite part?" He said as he started peppering her neck and back with soft kisses.

"No my favorite part was Officer Chad." He heard sharpay whisper. He remembered exactly who Officer Chad was from that drunken night months ago when they had their first kiss.

"Tell me what happened with you in Officer Chad?" Chad said in a breathy whisper.

"In this fantasy you as Officer Chad were knocking on my apartment door to yell at me for my numerous traffic violations. I answered the door in a bathroom and white lingerie. Suddenly you realize it's me and follow me into the apartment."

"I'm starting to like this fantasy." Chad said as he started to remove her top.

"I thought we were going to go out?" Sharpay asked but didn't stop him as he continued to undress her.

"We can order pizza later. I want to play with you now. What did we do in this naughty fantasy of yours?"

"You have me up against the wall and your mouth was covering mind as you start undressing me. Your hands are touching me in all the right places. Your tongue was doing very wicked things to me. I destroy the police uniform because I literally ripped it off you. I do not think about it because within seconds you're inside of me. I cannot think at that point." The last time she told him about Officer Chad she wasn't this graphic.

"Last year you had a sex dream about me?" He asked her in surprise. Even their subconscious knew that they had feelings for each other last year.

"I was conscious when I came up with this little fantasy." Sharpay admitted sheepishly. Chad's mouth dropped open in complete shock.

"You were fantasizing about having sex with me and yet you freaked out at the thought of the senior play being about me? You passed out in class."

"Even though Kelsey wrote all the songs, I wrote everything else. If the senior musical was going to be about you that meant we would have to work together. That's what had me so freaked out." He didn't believe that.

"Are you sure you were not flashing back to your little fantasy?" He said teasing her.

"No, I came up with that fantasy after I passed out." Sharpay said blushing.

"What do you think about that fantasy now?" Chad asked he pulled away from her. If he kept kissing her, he wouldn't get a straight answer.

"The only part I still want is where you and I make love against the wall of our apartment."

"I'm looking forward to that."

"I'm sure you would. The only good thing that came out of the almost sex tape incident is I found out I don't want to be famous. I do not want people running up to me in the grocery store as I pick out cereal. I don't want people making nasty comments about my personal life. Last year I would have loved to have the press follow me like they have been this week. Now I have the sudden urge to punch out a photographer."

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to consider a different career path?"

"I don't necessarily need to be famous to be an actor. I have more fun writing plays than actually acting in them."

"Spike Lee and Tyler Perry put themselves in all their films. You can always do the same thing." Chad said kissing her.

"I know all about Spike Lee. I have to analyze three of his films for our film class final project. You're the lucky bastard that drew George Lucas. Truthfully, I always preferred to write. That's why I was so mad about the Twinkle Towne fiasco. Kelsey wrote the entire play without me. Honestly I only wanted to do a one woman show senior year, because I would get to write it all by myself. Kelsey signed everybody up for the play to purposely keep me from writing it." Sharpay said that last part with a hint of anger.

"You don't have to finish this right now. You have all weekend to come up with something as you work on your other projects. How about I get your mind off of everything by acting out some of the things from your story?" He asked her as started kissing her body again.

"Just because I can write about us having sex doesn't mean I'm ready. I'm not afraid of being with you. I am more afraid of that act in general. Writing has always been away for me to work out some of my issues."

"I was personally thinking of the massage, but if you have other ideas at all for it. So you're adventurous in erotic writing are a way for you to process everything and move forward.

"Yes."

"Good. Do you have any other pieces like the teacher fantasy? If so, can I read the stories?" That statement got him a pillow in the head.

* * *

After Chad left for his away game at 9:00 AM that morning Sharpay started working on her many projects for the end of this semester. She managed to analyze two Spike Lee films and prepare her outline for her Mandela paper. She would start writing on it tonight.

Around noon, she tried to go back to the audition piece. She was out of ideals so she chose random careers from the Internet. All the stories came out horrible. So frustrated, Sharpay agreed to go shopping with Tiffany and Karri when they called her.

Sharpay spent a good half an hour telling Karri and Tiffany what happened yesterday as they looked for baby things.

"In high school I wanted to be a fashion designer. Then I had to take care of my sick grandmother and decided I wanted to help people. I changed my major to premed and did wonderfully." Tiffany said as the left the Baby Boutique with the starter wardrobe for the twins.

"How have the twins affected that?" Sharpay asked Tiffany. Even though her and Chad weren't doing anything yet, Sharpay knew she could just as easily end up an Tiffany's position. She knew her and Chad were going to get married before they were out of school.

"I'm taking the next two quarters off until the babies are born. I will start classes again in the summer back in Cleveland. I'll be done with undergrad by the end of December 2009. I'm hoping to get into the medical program at Albuquerque Medical center so I will have a support system. I'm going to finish med school."

"I think I would be absolutely terrified in your shoes." Sharpay said quietly.

"I'm terrified. The fact that I'm going to be doing this all on my own makes it worse."

"Have you heard from Charles?" Sharpay asked Tiffany. Chad has not heard from his dad since he punched him out on Thanksgiving.

"My lawyer has not been able to get a hold of his lawyer yet. He's not returning my calls. I really am going to be doing this on my own." Tiffany said as she sat down almost in tears.

"No you're not." Sharpay said as she sat down next to her. "I think I just spent $3000 on baby close alone today. You're carrying my future sister in law and brother in law right now. That makes us family. Chad and I'll be there even though the daddy is most likely ditching all of us. Welcome to our dysfunctional family." Sharpay said as she hugged her.

She and Chad had been having many conversations about what to do regarding his new brother and sister as well as his absentee father. They both decided they would be there for Tiffany as much as possible.

"Does this mean I can talk you and Chad into going with me to the doctor next week?"

"I'm sure I can talk him into it." Sharpay said with a smile.

"That is enough resting. We still need to pick out Karri's dress for the winter ball." Tiffany said as she got up from the bench.

"No we don't. I am not going." Kerri said as she reluctantly got up from the bench. Considering what happened at the last dance, Sharpay understood why Karri didn't want to go.

"Why don't you want to go? The Winter Ball is always so much fun." Tiffany asked her cousin.

"The welcome back dance was supposed to be fun. Because my then boyfriend was a prick, I ended up in ICU because he drugged me to have sex with him against my will."

"I seriously doubt that's going to happen again." Tiffany said to her.

"Probably not considering the principle has doubled the amount of chaperones and is most likely going to be strip searching everybody. "

"I don't remember him being this bad." Tiffany said in confusion.

"He wasn't. The real reason I don't want to go to the dance is their only three boys in the entire school that I actually trust that still speak to me. One has a girlfriend, the other one has a secret boyfriend, and the third one hasn't gone through puberty yet. Of the three, the only one that likes me more than a friend is Jason. Jason is sweet, but he's also 12." Kerri said with a sigh of annoyance.

"You could still go with Jimmy. I doubt he's going to be able to bring Marc." Sharpay said pointing out the obvious. This is the first she heard about Marc and Jimmy actually dating. She shouldn't be surprised because she hadn't talked to Marc since the incident Monday.

"The captain of your basketball team is gay?" Tiffany asked in surprise.

"Yes, but only a handful of people know. He's going to the dance with Jackie as a friend."

"Does she know that he's going with her just as a friend?" Sharpay asked Karri.

"No, because she's so freaked out about the whole Kelsey thing we've decided not to tell her. Can we please talk about something else right now?" Karri asked not wanting to go any further into the conversation.

"You can always suggest possible careers for me." Sharpay said as she led them to another baby store. She wasn't going to force the dance issue with Karri.

"Rape counselor," Karri called out without thinking. "I do not think I would've been able to get through everything without you. You're really great at listening and you understand what's going on with me. I'm doing much better talking to you than I was with the therapist my mom was paying 200 bucks an hour for." Tiffany said as they walked into Baby Land.

"She is right. You are great at listening. Maybe you and Kim could put your own nonprofit together."

* * *

_**Olivia Evans and her Aunt Michaela Jackson walked through the Eastside mall with her mom and dad looking for the perfect prom dress. Michaela was going dress shopping with her because her mom was on call at the hospital and wouldn't have the time before the dance.**_

_**Because she is a super genius like her father she is in the same grade with her aunt and uncle even though she's a year younger. Many people found it odd that Olivia was in the same grade as her aunt and uncle. Their mouths were on the floor when she told them about her aunt from Grandma Caroline and Grandpa Jack that was currently in the ninth grade. **_

_**Neither her or Michaela carried the last name Danforth because her Grandfather Charles was an ass. Olivia only met the person once at her great Aunt Claudia's funeral two years ago. Her Aunt Michaela and Uncle William really didn't care about their absentee father because they had their big brother instead. **_

_**Her parents were currently making out behind her as they walked through the mall. Even though they have been married for almost 18 years they still act like newlyweds. Her dad was really famous for creating voice recognition software that actually works. Thanks to him, everybody talks to his or her computers now. Her mom and her best friend ran a nonprofit organization that focused on sexual assault prevention and survivor services.**_

"_**Can you please stop that? We are in public. Do you have to make out all the time?" Olivia practically yelled at her parents **_

"_**If your special friend Jordan was here you probably would be attached at the lips." Michaela pointed out to her niece. As soon as Michaela said Jordan's name her father started to tense up.**_

"_**You don't find their behavior creepy?" Olivia asked Michaela as she ignored her father's reaction.**_

"_**He is my brother. I view things differently than you do."**_

"_**Sometimes I forget you're my aunt and not my sister."**_

"_**It's probably worse with Teresa because she is three years younger than you."**_

"_**Did I thank you guys for giving me aunts and uncles that are my own age?" Olivia said to her father sarcastically.**_

"_**That was not my fault. I was an only child until the year before you were born. Remember to mention that to Grandpa Jack next time you see him." That earned her father a smack from her mom. **_

"_**Let's go in the store and pick out your dresses." Sharpay said ushering everyone into the dress shop.**_

"_**You're such a bossy sister in law," Michaela said as they walked into the store. "Come on Olivia; let's see if we can find you something that's easy access for Jordan." Of course, she said that loud enough for her parents to hear.**_

"_**Just because everybody supposedly loses their virginity on prom night doesn't mean it's a good idea. Just ask your Uncle Ryan." Uncle Ryan and Aunt Taylor were the only aunts and uncles that really felt like aunts and uncles.**_

"_**How do you know Olivia is still a virgin? I'm not." Michaela said to her brother.**_

"_**What do you mean you're not a virgin? It had better not be that Matt boy that you're always with. I hate that boy." At that moment her dad and Aunt Michaela got in a huge argument in the middle of the store. Olivia and her mom retreated to the dressing rooms.**_

"_**Sometimes I think dad forgets that Michaela is his sister not his daughter." Olivia said as she grabbed a pink dress from the rack to try it on.**_

"_**Their relationship is probably closer to father/daughter than brother/sister. Michaela and William didn't get to have a mom and dad like you and your brother. Michaela and William have a mom and a big brother. You don't know how lucky you are. I would have loved to have a family like this growing up." Her mom said to her.**_

"_**I thought that grandfather Evans didn't divorce your mom until right before you and dad got married." Olivia knew hardly anything about her maternal grandmother except that her first name was Darby. Darby was not talked about in their house. There was not even a picture of her.**_

"_**Just because both my parents were married to each other, didn't mean we had the perfect family. It wasn't until me and your uncle were in college that my dad realized being a workaholic was a bad thing. Your father and me have always put you in your brother first before our careers. We don't talk about the woman who gave birth to me because she was abusive." Her mom's body language told Olivia not to ask a follow-up question.**_

"_**Do you think they have the dress in blue? I am not a pink person".**_

"_**Neither am I."**_

* * *

For once Chad was actually having fun at an away game. After losing the last two games, they won tonight by 15 points. Best of all Penelope did not hit on him at all today. Actually she's been avoiding him since Monday's incident in the cafeteria. Penelope was also quiet on the plane. Even Amanda picked up on it. He really didn't care as long as she stayed away from him.

Chad was currently sitting in his hotel room re-watching _American Graffiti _as he worked on his analysis of the film for his film class. Halfway through the film, Sharpay called him.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep right now?" Chad asked as he answered the phone.

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" Sharpay asked instead of answering his question.

"I haven't come down from the game yet. If I stay up here and quietly do my homework, nobody says anything to me. I'll sleep on the plane tomorrow. So why are you up at one in the morning when I'm not there to keep you up?"

"I had a weird nightmare. I can't go back to sleep. I figured if I talk to you I could go back to sleep."

"Was it another Richard nightmare?"

"No, it was Penelope this time. I had this dream where you were the NBA superstar and I was the basketball player wife. I ran a charity that specialized in giving inner city children a chance to spend the summer at drama camp in New Mexico. I was giving an interview on some Oprah like talk show with you when Penelope showed up pregnant. She said that you were the father and then eight other girls show up claiming that they had slept with you." He would find the situation funny if Sharpay wasn't so unsettled by the dream.

"You do realize that is never going to happen." Chad said wishing he could hold her right now. He was really starting to hate away games.

"I know. I Trust you. It's this stupid project. I have written all these different short stories and nothing is good enough. I still have no idea what I want to be.

"How many stories have you written?" he asked her.

"Between today and yesterday I've started on 15 different ideas. I have drafted out 8 short stories."

"E-mail me everything you have. We're going to figure this out tonight." Chad told his girlfriend.

"You don't have to do that. You should work on your own projects."

"If I don't help you will not go back to sleep."

"Fine I will e-mail you everything. Call after you read everything. I love you for doing this." Sharpay said as she hung up the phone.

45 minutes later after reading through all the short stories he called his girlfriend back. He particularly loved the one where she was the CEO of the Evans Corporation and they were having sex on her desk in the middle of the day. There was no way he was letting her turn that one in.

"So how can you help me?" Sharpay asked him.

"Sharpay you don't need my help. You know exactly what you want. I am kind of happy, because I want the same thing."

"No I don't. I have no idea what career I want to have."

"Sharpay that's the only thing you're not sure about. In every single one of these stories we are married. In most of them, we have children. In your fantasies stories we have the type of family life that we didn't have growing up. In most of these fantasies you are working in careers that help other people."

"I didn't realize any of the stories have common themes." sharpay said as she realized he was right.

"It's okay that you don't know what career you want. I remember reading somewhere that the average person changes careers five times during their life. Most people end up working in a career that has nothing to do with their major. Do you really think my father went to college to be a CPU?"

"I don't think your father wants to do anything. Apparently, I know exactly what I want in the future. How do I declare that major?"

"Since you asked I have a plan." Chad said to Sharpay as he outlined his strategy.

* * *

At 11:50 AM on Monday Chad stood outside Sharpay's class holding her lunch that she wouldn't get to eat until she was on her way to EHS. Sharpay kissed him on the cheek and grabbed the bag from him when she finally made it to the classroom. "Thank you for making sure I don't starve." Sharpay said as she kissed him on the mouth.

"So how did everything go at the registrar's office?"

"I'm officially no longer an acting major. I also signed up for my minor in women's studies. You better keep your part of the deal and declare your extra minor tomorrow." They came to an agreement early Sunday morning that for now Sharpay would only major in business until she decided if she wanted to switch to the writing program. They agreed to take a similar minor so they could have some classes together. By him taking an extra minor and her no longer being a double major they would graduate at the same time.

"I promise. I'm going to be the only guy in all your women's studies classes."

"That's not going to happen. There is at least one man who takes the class to try to get a date."

"What about the essay?"

Sarah looked over the story quickly and said it was really good when I dropped it off. She's going to send it off to professor Rollins today. I will know by the end of the week if I'd get to take the class."

"I'm sure you'll get into the class. Which story did you turn in?"

"I wrote a different one yesterday when I was waiting for you to come in. I decided to write about our 25th wedding anniversary. I emailed you a special version of the essay." Sharpay said as she kissed him before walking into her final chemistry class of the semester and took her usual seat next to Amanda.

When Chad got home from basketball practice that afternoon he read Sharpay's paper. He absolutely loved it and hoped that she didn't accidentally send the professor this version.


	24. Final Exams: Part I

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I live in the DC area and I ended up being snowed in this weekend. What does that mean for the readers of this story? I already have chapter 25 done. I will post as soon as I get sufficient encouragement.

This is probably the first chapter under 7000 words in forever. My goal for 2010 is to write smaller chapters and update more frequently.

**Chapter 24: Final Exams: Part One**

**December 12, 2008 3:45 PM**

Chad sat in the doctor's office going over his notes for his Chemistry exam tomorrow morning as Sharpay did the same. His mind was still recovering from this morning's calculus exam. Tiffany was already inside the room getting ready for the examination. He may have made peace with Tiffany, but that he didn't want to see her undress. The only woman he wanted to see that way was in the seat next to him trying to memorize all her chemistry formulas.

Sharpay was mad at him because he kept her too distracted last night to study her calculus exam this morning. It was all her fault.

He didn't want to go to the doctors appointment today. He was still adjusting to the fact that in less than three months he was no longer going to be an only child. He wasn't ready to see the evidence on an ultrasound monitor.

Sharpay argued that they both agreed to help Tiffany in any way possible and Tiffany didn't want to go to the appointment alone. Therefore, they needed to go with her.

When that didn't work, Sharpay argued that this was a great way for him to start bonding with his new siblings. He pointed out to her that he wasn't ready to bond with his new siblings.

This led to Sharpay saying, "Chad you need to get over it. They're here and barring some extreme tragedy you will have a new brother and sister by Valentine's Day. Your daddy is most likely ditching both you and your new siblings. He hasn't called you and Tiffany since Thanksgiving. Those two are going to need their big brother. You need to grow up and get over it."

This led to him being whiny for a few minutes. Once Sharpay realize none of her verbal arguments were going to work, she unzipped his pants and wrapped her hand around a certain appendage. He was unable to argue with that particular "argument". Sharpay discovered two weeks ago that any argument could be won by making him come. That's why he was here at the doctor's office against his own free will.

That particular "argument" also led to 3 hours of "not studying". Just because they weren't doing anything that could get Sharpay on the examining table, didn't mean he wasn't having fun. If they both flunked their calculus exams, he would blame her. It was so much fun at the time.

Chad was broken out of his dirty thoughts of the night before when the nurse came to get them. When the nurse noticed Chad holding Sharpay's hand, she said something stupid.

"I don't know if I could go with my boyfriend to the doctor's appointment of the other girl he knocked up."

Chad shouldn't be surprised, but he was. Given the fact that he was less than four years younger than Tiffany, it seems more likely that he was the father then the big brother. This is giving him another reason to hate the man he formally referred to as father, in addition to what he heard in the car.

"I don't think I could do that either. Fortunately, for me I'm going with my fiancée to the doctor's appointment of the mother of his half brother and sister." Sharpay said in the tone of voice that she normally reserved for people like Gabriella or Penelope who she wanted to stab with a blunt object. Sharpay also flashed her engagement ring in the woman's face. The nurse stayed quiet after that.

They sat together in the room waiting for the doctor to arrive. The only conversation going on was between Tiffany and Sharpay. They were talking about doing more shopping this weekend. Finally, the doctor arrived who just happened to be Taylor's mother. He completely forgot about Mrs. McKessie's real career.

"Chad and Sharpay what are you doing here?" Dr. McKessie asked them. "You better not be the father. Ms. Jackson is seven months along. That means that you would have had to sleep with her when you were dating my daughter. I can forgive you for the Sharpay thing because I know that you love her. If you did anything with Ms. Jackson, I swear I will cut off your dick."

Suddenly Chad was reminded of his conversation almost a month ago with Sharpay's father. He wondered if Taylor's mom (adopted) knew about her relationship with Sharpay's brother. Ryan should be the one getting the threats of genital mutilation and castration.

"My babies don't have a father, since the prick in question decided to sign away his parental rights. My children's big brother is actually more mature than his father." Tiffany said in irritation.

Tiffany told them this painful fact in the car. At this point in his life, as far as Chad is concerned Charles Danforth was just a sperm donor.

"Why does everybody assume I am the father? Although my dad has decided not to take responsibility for knocking up Ms. Jackson, he is in fact responsible. I haven't done anything that could get anyone pregnant, not even Sharpay or your daughter. When Sharpay and I do anything, I will be smart enough to use a condom correctly. I will also take responsibility for my actions. Because my dad is deficient in that area I'm losing my status as an only child at almost 18." Chad said with an extreme amount of anger and bitterness.

"You have to ignore him. He's not adjusting very well to becoming a big brother." Sharpay said grabbing his hand.

"That's okay. Taylor went through the same thing when Jason was born. She placed pictures of herself in my bag for the hospital so I wouldn't forget about her. Tiffany is it okay if we start with the ultrasound. I'm sure that's what big brother came here for anyway." Dr. McKessie said as she prepared to do the examination.

Big brother personally did not want to see the ultrasound. However, he knew Sharpay would make him sleep alone tonight if he ran away. He did not like sleeping alone.

"Have you talked to Taylor?" Sharpay asked her.

"Only a little bit. She still upset about what happen. I think Jason is taking it worse than her. He has been moping around the house for a few days. Maybe that also has something to do with him not going to the Winter Ball. It's hard to get a date in high school when you're 12."

"Kerri is doing the same thing. She says she doesn't want to go to the dance but I know she does. She's pissed off that Jimmy decided to take Jackie to the dance as just a friend instead of her." Tiffany said as the doctor placed the jelly like substance on her stomach.

"Considering what happened I cannot blame her for not wanting to go to another dance." Sharpay said very quietly.

"She shouldn't let what happened keep her from enjoying high school or finding someone else. That's exactly what she is doing." Tiffany argued back.

"Don't worry I have a secret plan to deal with both sulky teenagers." Chad said mysteriously hoping to end the argument between his girlfriend and the mother of his siblings. Sharpay didn't even know his secret plan yet.

"As interesting as this little argument is, please turn your attention to the screen." Dr. McKessie said to the three of them.

"They don't look like squiggles anymore." Tiffany said as she looked at the screen. Chad looked on with wonder as he watched his brother and sister. For the first time since hearing about their existence two weeks ago, he finally accepted that this was real. Soon he was going to have two people who will look up to him for everything. He was absolutely petrified.

"Did you already choose names? I'm kind of tired of referring to the twins as blob one and blob two. They're very cute and they are not blobs anymore." Sharpay asked as she continued to watch the screen in fascination.

"I pick out the names a couple weeks ago when I first agreed to marry Charles. I'm going to have to pick out a new name for a boy. I was planning to name both after my deceased grandparents. Olivia Jackson sounds just as good as Olivia Danforth. The problem is I can't name my son after his grandfather, if he has the last name Jackson. The kids at school would eat him alive." Chad remember that Olivia was the name Sharpay gave their daughter in one of her short stories.

"Whatever the name is, I'm sure you can still use it as a middle name. We'll go through the baby book tonight to find a new first name." Sharpay said squeezing Tiffany's hand.

"Speaking of changes in plans, have you had a chance to put together the birthing plan we emailed to you a few days ago. I'm sure you need to find a new birthing coach." Dr. McKessie asked Tiffany.

"I have most of the plan ready. I already found two new birthing coaches."

"Who's that?" Chad asked her.

"Your mother hasn't told you yet?" Tiffany asked in shock.

* * *

"I can't believe she's doing this." Chad said as they got on the elevators in Evans hall. Chad spent the entire ride back from the doctor's office yelling at his mom on his cell phone. It was not a very pretty argument.

To say that Chad's mother was not okay with the thought of him getting married any time soon was an understatement. Their talk a few weeks ago didn't help too much.

Caroline was even more upset after she found out about the special clause in Sharpay's trust fun. Chad's mom was worry that they were not mature enough to deal with that much money. To ease her fears his mom and her dad were going to put her and Chad through a special test during winter break.

"I know you're upset, but if this gets her to be okay with us getting married then we should do it. It's not going to be that bad. This is going to be just like that life science assignment in 10th grade. The only difference is we are going to have a real apartment, real money, and we actually get to sleep in the same bed." Sharpay said as the elevator doors opened.

"You forget my mom is turning this into her own version of scared celibate. She volunteered us to be Tiffany's birthing coaches." Chad said with a touch of annoyance as Sharpay turned to her dorm room.

"So we're going to have to spend winter break at Lamaze class. It's not going to be that bad."

"I'm fine going to Lamaze class. I'm worried about going through live childbirth. Where are we going?" Chad asked her once you realize that they were not going back to his room.

"To show off the baby pictures," Sharpay said with an extreme amount of enthusiasm.

"You know you're a lot happier about this, than I am." Chad said to her as he pulled her in for a kiss.

"I always wanted to have a baby brother or sister. I never asked dad and Darby for one because I didn't want another sibling to be raised by that monster. Thanks to you, I get to have a baby sister in law and brother in law instead. I can't wait to buy them all the cutest things. This weekend I picked up some matching outfits like Ryan and I used to wear when we were little." Sharpay said with bounciness that she thought she left behind in high school.

"What do you mean when you were little? You and Ryan dressed in matching outfits until you both started college. Now you use me as your own personal Ken doll to play couples dress up." Chad said pointing to his own outfit that matched hers perfectly down to the shoes.

"I don't know why you're complaining, you think it's cute. Why do you have an overnight bag in my room Nikki?" Sharpay asked Nikki as soon as she noticed her in her bedroom. She has not spoken to Marc and Nikki sense the lunchtime blow up a week and a half ago.

"I can't deal with my room anymore." Nikki said as she sat down on the bed that was technically Sharpay's.

"I can understand. If I had Penelope for a roommate, I would probably be in jail by now for physical assault." Sharpay said as she sat down on Amanda's bed.

"It turns out Penelope is not as evil as we all thought she was. I can deal with Penelope. She is too distracted with studying for finals to cause any problems. Also, it's not like I have a boyfriend for her to steal." Nikki said that last part quietly.

"That doesn't matter. If it wasn't so obvious she would probably hit on Marc." Sharpay said as Chad sat next to her.

"It's her boyfriend that I find creepy. The guy is a complete bastard and he is so nasty to her. After he tried to grab my ass last night when Penelope was in the restroom, I decided to spend the rest of finals week here." Nikki said with a shudder.

Sharpay knew exactly whom Penelope was dating. Even though Penelope was up there with Gabriella on her people she hated list, she wouldn't want anyone to be involved with an evil person like Richard. No one deserves that.

"It would probably be best if you stay here. You shouldn't be alone with that guy any way. You can never trust any guy that Penelope would date." Sharpay said cryptically not wanting to give away the real reason why she didn't trust Penelope's boyfriend.

"So why exactly did you visit your own dorm room? Did you run out of closet space again? I thought you and Chad were avoiding me after I walked in on the one thing I specifically asked not to see." Amanda said sarcastically referring to last Friday night when she accidentally walked in to see Chad's overly fluffy head between a very naked Sharpay's legs.

"That was so not my fault. I had no idea Chad forgot to lock the door. Most normal people knock. I brought baby pictures." Sharpay said as she pulled out the ultrasound photos and pushed all thoughts of Richard out of her mind.

"I did. You were too busy calling Chad god at the time to actually hear me knocking." Amanda said as she grabbed the ultrasound pictures from Sharpay.

"What are you guys talking about?" Nikki asked in confusion.

"No comment," all three yelled out simultaneously.

* * *

At 4:30 PM on Thursday afternoon, they were back in the cell phone waiting area at the Albuquerque Airport. This was starting to become a normal ritual. This time they were there to pick up Troy who was flying in for a few days to see his mom and Gabriella.

Kim would be going back with him to spend winter break in the San Francisco area looking for their new apartment. If the doctors said she was okay, Gabriella may be flying back with them Monday.

Chad's mind was still numb from this morning's chemistry exam to think about anything else. Nothing like a one hundred question multiple choice test to completely fry your brain. This was his last exam for this semester. The only things left were to turn in his Darth Vader essay tomorrow and e-mail his George Lucas essay to his professor by Tuesday.

He decided to argue that Darth Vader was not evil but mentally ill. He was inspired by the entire Gabriella situation. His thesis stated that the entire downfall of the Republic was caused by inadequate mental health screenings by the Jedi Council and a lack of understanding.

In his paper, Chad argue that Anakin Skywalker really suffered from undiagnosed multiple personality disorder. His fall to the "dark side" could have been prevented with proper medication and therapy. Chad would either get an A for the brilliance of his paper or fail miserably for taking the assignment too seriously.

Sharpay was sitting in the backseat proofreading her Mandela paper on her mini laptop. This time to avoid a cranky Alex in the backseat, they decided it would be best if Sharpay stayed with Alex. At least Chad didn't get a car at his head this time. Nor did he get any surprises. He already dealt with the shock of finding out Troy had a secret child in September.

"Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule of heavy petting with the mountain lion to come get me." Troy said as he placed his luggage in the trunk. That comment Chad made junior year was coming back to bite him on the ass. Fortunately, his girlfriend didn't say anything.

"You're still mad about the bedroom thing." Chad said as he got as the car to hug his friend.

"You had sex in my room." Troy said with just a touch of anger and a deadpan expression.

"We did not have sex in your room." Sharpay said as she got out of the backseat to give Troy her spot.

"I don't care what our former president says, if you get off and another person is involved it counts." Troy said as he got in the back with his son and quickly hugged him.

"You and Kim had sex sex in my dressing room on my couch sophomore year during the Winter Ball. We are even." Sharpay said with a hint of discuss. This is the first time Chad heard about this.

"Did you actually make it to any dance in high school?" Chad asked his friend.

"Not really. Now Kim is making us chaperone tomorrow night. This is just what I wanted after surviving the finals week from hell. I get to spend Friday night with my girlfriend chaperoning high school students. Of course, this is after I will spend tomorrow morning talking to my mother who blackmailed Kim, conspire to hide my child from me for two years, and did things that lead to Gabriella's spending time in a psychiatric ward." Troy said with a sigh as Sharpay got in the front seat.

"Kim volunteered to chaperone, because she can't take your grandmothers and your aunt much longer. Chaperoning isn't that bad." Sharpay said to him.

"Just remember as chaperones your duties are to keep Joshua Steiner from dumping Jack Daniels in the punch and make sure no one has sex on the roof. That includes you and Kim not having sex on the roof." Chad said with an evil laugh as he pulled away from the front of the Airport.

"You are never going to let go of that are you?" Troy asked his friend.

"Not very likely. You conceived Alex on top of the school roof. There's no living that down." Chad told him.

* * *

For the last few weeks, Kim Bolton's home has been over run by condescending aunts, overbearing grandmothers, and noisy reporters. Of the three, she could only deal with the reporters with any degree of success. At least they left her alone if she answer some of their questions.

Grandma Karen was generally nice to Kim, even if she constantly criticized everything regarding Alex. Aunt Julia and her mother absolutely hated Kim and blamed her for the whole Lucy situation. They don't understand why she was staying in New Mexico when Troy was at Berkeley. They don't understand why she's not staying at home with Alex when she has no financial need to work. They also called her all sorts of nasty names behind her back because she got pregnant at 18. They never said the same nasty things about Troy when he was the one who got her pregnant.

Troy's Aunt Julia, Grandmother Karen, and Grandmother Melinda were in her kitchen preparing a welcome back dinner for Troy. Kim didn't see the point in doing this because they could just go out to a restaurant instead. If she wasn't trying to make a good impression on the three women, she would kick them all out of her house. With the exception of Grandma Karen, Kim wondered if it was possible to make these women like her.

She was sitting in the living room, trying to complete her final project for her education class. It wasn't easy because the treacherous three were talking about her behind her back as usual. She just returned from her exam and her mind was still fuzzy. If it wasn't for the fact that Troy would be arriving home any minute she would have stayed at the library.

"Why isn't she helping us?" Aunt Julia asked the other two. At least she wasn't blaming Kim anymore for Lucy being arrested.

"She is studying for finals. It's more important that she passes her exams than kiss up to you." Jack said as he walked into the kitchen. Looking at the clock it appeared that basketball practice was over for the day. At least her almost father in law defended her.

"I don't see why. It's not like she really needs to work. She has that trust fund to fall back on even if Troy decides to stay in the frivolous field of acting. It's not like poor Lucy who had to work all the time because you want to be a teacher." Said Troy's maternal grandmother. The woman reminded Kim a whole lot of Lucy. They both had the same acidic personality.

At this point the two parties would begin arguing about who was responsible for Lucy being arrested on embezzlement charges. 10 minutes later the fight will deteriorate into an argument about the divorce proceedings and about Troy getting her pregnant at 15. After two weeks of listening to this argument repeatedly, she couldn't take it. She quickly unplugged her laptop, grabbed her jacket, and went out to the front porch hoping for some peace. 10 minutes Later her almost father in law joined her.

"Are they always like this?" Kim asked looking up from her computer.

"Yes, we usually try to keep everyone apart to avoid the sort of thing. On the bright side, at least I get along with your father better than my mother gets along with Lucy's mother."

"I think I get along better with Penelope and Gabriella better than those two women do with each other. I just wish they would argue someplace else when I'm trying to finish my projects." Kim said as she went back to working on her laptop. She wanted to get everything done before Troy arrived. They were supposed to meet Miss Darbus for tea this afternoon anyway. She conveniently forgot to mention this to the extended family.

"What project are you working on?" Jack asked her.

"A five page report on my experiences in Ms. Ortega's class. Then I have to work on my essay for film class due Tuesday. Fortunately I can e-mail that from San Francisco." Kim said as she noticed Sharpay's car pull up in front of the house.

She hated being away from Troy these last few weeks. She wished he were here to help her deal with the crazy extended family who was sticking around because of the whole Lucy situation. She wished he were here to help her deal with the media. She really wished he were here to help her deal with her dad, her stepmom, and her new baby sister that would be coming soon.

She was looking forward to spending the next three weeks with her boyfriend in San Francisco as she looked at schools and they started looking for their new home together.

As soon as the car stopped, she placed her laptop on the porch and ran to Troy and their son.

* * *

The ride to Miss Darbus house was relatively comfortable. He could tell his girlfriend couldn't take spending much more time with his extended family. He didn't get why they were sticking around. Grandma Karen he understood because she would do something like this. Everyone else made no sense. They never really call or visit except on Thanksgiving.

"Why are we going to Miss Darbus house?" Chad asked from the front seat of the car. Troy had been wondering about that himself. "You know she has been out a lot the last couple weeks. She called me last night and asked if we could all come over today. I personally think she wants to yell at me for no longer being an acting major." If Troy was in so focused on the fact that Sharpay was no longer majoring in acting, he would pick up on the fact that Sharpay was hiding something.

They pulled up in front of the brightly colored house a few minutes later. Miss Darbus's house was exactly what he expected to see, bright colors and interesting decorum. He was glad they didn't bring Alex because he would most likely break something. He noticed Miss Darbus sitting down on one of the purple couches. She seems so much more tired than two weeks ago. He noticed the young woman who looks a lot like Miss Darbus sitting next to her.

"Have a seat." Miss Darbus said as they walked into the sitting room.

"This is my daughter Sasha." Miss Darbus said in introduction. Sharpay apparently was not in the mood for pleasantries.

"It's back isn't it?" Sharpay asked in a very quiet voice

"Yes it's back." Miss Darbus said this quietly. Troy had no idea what that statement meant. Sharpay and his girlfriend did. He felt Kim grabbed his hand for support as Sharpay started crying. Chad's arms were wrapped around her in seconds.

"I was hoping to put off this conversation until Ryan arrived Monday, but that is not possible. I felt it was best if all of you heard it from me. Four years ago, I was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. I fought and I won the battle. Unfortunately, it wasn't the war. The cancer is back. It's best that I move to LA with Sasha for a while. We will be leaving Saturday and will be starting treatment Monday."

Troy couldn't breathe. He just kept holding on to Kim's hand. This is too much for him to take. This is not what he wanted to hear after surviving finals hell.

"Is a terminal?" Trust Sharpay to ask the most painful question.

"We're all going to die eventually Sharpay. Whether it is in 50 years or in a few months, it really doesn't matter. I could walk outside tomorrow and be hit by a bus. I want to go to LA, because they have better doctors there and I want to spend time with my granddaughter." The room stayed quiet for a while after that statement that didn't answer the question.

"What is going to happen to your classes?" Chad asked trying to change the subject. Thank god, his best friend picked up on his uncomfortableness.

"Substitutes don't work well in there, so one of the teachers will be reassigned next semester. The last two weeks Principal Matsui has been auditioning teachers to take over the class next semester. Any teacher who has a background in English or performing has been asked to watch the class during these last two weeks."

"My dad told me that he's been watching your class a lot lately. He's actually being considered to take over? Principal Matsui has really lost it." Troy muttered under his breath.

"Your dad has been the only one so far that has any idea whatsoever what they're doing." Sharpay told him. He didn't know what to say to that.

* * *

Penelope Castro was studying in the community room for her history exam with her roommate Nikki and her friend Amanda. Even though they didn't have the class at the same time, they had the exact same professor who was too lazy to make more than one test. 30 minutes into the study session she saw her worst enemy enter into the room in tears as Chad held onto her.

Penelope hated Sharpay just a little bit more because she had a boyfriend who would actually be there for her. Penelope knew Richard just saw her as a way to get off. What he did to her last night told her that. He didn't love her, but at least it meant she wouldn't be Alone.

"Is she okay?" Amanda asked in genuine concern for her friend as Chad return from placing Sharpay in their bedroom. At this point Penelope was already preparing to go back to work on her English paper.

"Not really. She found out her favorite teacher from high school is sick." Unlike everyone else, Penelope knew Chad was talking about Miss Darbus. That statement had her worry too.

"This must be some favor teacher. She's acting like I did when they told me that mom wouldn't make it to Christmas when I was 11 years old." A week ago Penelope found out that Nikki's mother died of lung cancer when Nikki was 12. Penelope found this out when Nikki found Penelope's secret pack of cigarettes. After hearing Nikki's story, Penelope hasn't picked up a cigarette since that day.

"Miss Darbus is probably more like a mother to Sharpay than Darby ever was." Penelope said as she got up from the table. Everyone in the room looked at Penelope as if she was crazy.

"You know Miss Darbus?" Chad questioned her as he followed her back to her dorm room.

"During the summer she always taught the all city drama program. I did the program from six grade until the summer before senior year. I always had the starring role, but that was probably because your girlfriend was too busy living the country club life. Miss Darbus is the reason why I am majoring in education. I was surprise to see Sharpay doing the community theater production last summer." Penelope said as she opened the door.

"You still got the lead this summer."

"That was only because your girlfriend is a better writer then actress." Penelope said as she put her books on her desk.

"Did you just say something nice about my girlfriend?" She winced when he said this.

At least he was not saying fiancée. She gave up on trying to get with Chad after she found out about the engagement. She already knew she didn't have a chance with him. Let's be honest, this was the first conversation they've ever had that didn't involve her flirting with him. She started to have a crush on him because he was hot but it changed into something more when she realized he was a nice guy. She doubted he would do to her half the stuff that Richard has done.

The fact that he was now marrying Sharpay completely shattered her fantasy of ever being with him. She learns a long time ago that you can't compete again Sharpay Evans. At the last away game, she didn't even bother talking to Chad on the plane.

"I blame the nicotine withdrawal." Penelope said with a sigh as she sat down on her bed."The cancer is back isn't it?" Penelope said in an almost whisper.

"Yes. How did you know she had cancer before? Only a handful of people knew."

"During the summer before ninth grade Miss Darbus left the summer program abruptly. I found out the reason why the next year. Judging by Sharpay's reaction the diagnosis is not good."

"No it is not." Chad said to her.

"What are you doing here?" Sharpay said being her normal ice queen self.

"We're just talking. It's not like I am going to tried to jump your fiancé." Penelope said the fiancée part with a high amount of animosity." I know that you and your little friends think I'm the easiest girl on campus. Contrary to your believe I do have standards. I don't hit on the married or the engaged."

"You had no problem trying to steal someone else's boyfriend." That comment just pissed Penelope off. How their little miss perfect act so high and mighty.

"That's rich coming from the girl who took Chad from Taylor. Nikki told me all about the fact that you two really didn't start dating until October after he actually broke up with Taylor. I was going to tell you that I was sorry about Miss Darbus, but you can even go 30 seconds without acting like a bitch." Penelope practically yelled at her.

"It's kind of hard not to act like a bitch to the girl who stole my boyfriend in high school and tried to steal my boyfriend in college." Sharpay yelled right back at her.

"I will admit I tried to get with Chad while you are dating. I was just doing the same thing you did to me ice queen."

"What are you talking about? You had no problem telling me that you were fucking my boyfriend the entire time we were dating. Of course this is after you spiked my drink with vodka." So Penelope put a couple of shots in her drink a couple months ago. How was she to know Sharpay couldn't hold her liquor at all and the whole thing would end up on the Internet?

"You should be thanking me for that. According to the Internet, you got a very good lay out of it." She was sure Sharpay was going to slap her if Chad didn't stop her. "I was with Zeke long before he was bringing you chocolate fudge brownies. I wasn't the other woman, you were." Sharpay's mouth went down to the floor at that moment.

"That's a lie." Sharpay screamed as her body started to shake.

"It's the complete truth. We got together sophomore year. He didn't want anybody to know because of the whole East/West rivalry. I didn't say anything. Imagine my surprise when I see him show up to the first day of play rehearsals this summer with a plate of brownies for you. That's when Troy tells me that you and Zeke have been dating for over a year. You got to be the public girlfriend and I was the dirty little secret that he fucked in the locker room." Penelope said practically screaming at Sharpay.

"How am I supposed to believe you when you tried to sleep with every boy on the East High basketball team? " That was a complete exaggeration. Penelope is a naturally flirty person. People assume when she says the word hang out that she means go fuck. The only guy she actually slept with on the East High basketball team was Zeke. She only started flirting with Troy to piss off Sharpay after she found out that she was dating Penelope's boyfriend. She also said all those nasty things to Sharpay at Kim's party for the same reason.

After that initial rejection, she mostly chased after Chad just to make Sharpay angry and because he was a nice person. The thing with the sophomore last year was to make Zeke jealous after a fight they had. Penelope knew that Jimmy wouldn't try anything with her.

"Believe whatever you want." Penelope said on the verge of tears. She wouldn't let Sharpay see her like this. She quickly got up and tried to run past her. Sharpay stopped her half way to the bathroom as she grabbed her arm. Unfortunately, Sharpay's hand landed on the same part of her armed that was black and blue for yesterday's incident.

* * *

After tea with Miss Darbus Sharpay couldn't deal with Penelope's usual antics. She trusted Chad, but not Penelope. When Penelope told her that she was Zeke original girlfriend Sharpay was furious. She didn't want to believe her. After hearing Tiffany side of the story with her relationship with Charles, Sharpay knew it was highly possible that Penelope was telling the truth.

She wasn't going to let Penelope run away from this conversation. That's when Sharpay grabbed Penelope by the arm and heard her scream. Sharpay knew she wasn't using that much force. As she let go, she purposely pulled up the fabric of Penelope sleeve to reveal bruises that were least one or two days old.

"What happened?" Sharpay asked as her anger started to go away. Sharpay really didn't need to ask the question because in her mind she already knew what happened.

"I fell during cheerleading practice yesterday." Penelope said in a way that Sharpay couldn't believe.

"I use to tell everybody that I fell during dance rehearsal. Of course, in my case I fell into Darby's fist at dance rehearsal. Did Richard do this to you?" It looks like her ex graduated from pills to actual physical violence.

Wasn't that her fault. She never told anybody what happened except for a few people. She never pressed charges. Richard was free because she never said anything.

Penelope never answered her question. Instead, she ran out of the building. Sharpay didn't have the emotional energy to follow her.

**A/N: I know that Penelope may seem out of character in this chapter. However, this is the first time we're seeing her from her own perspective. Before she was filtered through the perceptions of other people. Remember in this story nobody is what he or she seems.**


	25. Final Exams: Part II

Thank you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter. Your encouragement was greatly appreciated.

**Chapter 25: Final Exams: Part II**

Warning: sexual assault attempted

**December 12, 2008 3:17 PM**

"Do you really think this plan is going to work?" Sharpay asked her boyfriend as she placed two garment bags in the back of her Lexis along with her makeup kit.

"It's been doing a good job so far. You have been too distracted today to worry about the Penelope situation or think about Miss Darbus." Chad said as he kissed Sharpay on the mouth.

"You also have me too distracted to work on my Spike Lee Paper." Sharpay said with a slight pout.

"A paper that is not due until midnight Tuesday. You've already watched all the movies and have the outline done. You need to take a break. Besides, you we're not working on your paper, you were researching various types of cancer this morning."

That was not entirely true. She was also writing a very nasty e-mail to a ex boyfriend who apparently believed in polygamy. If she ever saw Zeke again, he would think the fight at Specialty Foods was a slap on the wrist. She may be engaged to Chad, but no one makes a fool of Sharpay Evans.

"You are right. I need to forget about everything for a couple of hours and do my good deed for the year." Sharpay said as she let go of her boyfriend and got into her car.

**8 Hours Earlier**

Sharpay stood in the bathroom putting on her makeup and doing her hair. Sometime during the third week of the school year, her morning routine was cut in half. Most of the time, she put her hair in a ponytail and only put on lip-gloss. She enjoyed snuggling with her boyfriend to much to wake up any earlier than necessary. Considering her boyfriend thought she looked most beautiful sprawled out on their bed with messy hair after she came. It really didn't matter that much anymore except for special occasions.

Today she went back to the old routine complete with straightening iron and full makeup kit. She just wanted to do something to forget about the last 24 hours. Okay maybe she was doing the full routine because her boyfriend took her laptop away because she was moping around the room.

She was so happy yesterday about the babies and the fact she got into the special writing class next semester. Now everything has fallen apart.

The thought of Miss Darbus not being there scared her to death. What was she going to do without her mentor? The hold Penelope/Zeke situation is another thing that was too hard to handle. In all honesty Sharpay did not care about Zeke that much she was more worried about the Richard/Penelope's situation.

Half way through her morning routine Penelope showed up in shower shoes and her bathrobe that obviously cover the bruises.

"I will come back later." Penelope said as she made her way back through the door.

"Come on in. I'm done with the shower and just doing my hair and makeup now." Penelope said to her.

"That's okay." Penelope said as she went to go again.

"I'm sorry about last night." Sharpay said in a near whisper. She knew she needed to apologize for being an absolute bitch yesterday.

"What part of last night are you apologizing for? Was it when you started acting like a bitch to me for no good reason, when you didn't believe me when I told you about are evil mutual ex boyfriend, or when you assumed I couldn't be left alone with your fiancé for 2 minutes without trying to fuck him?" Penelope practically slammed her shower tote on the counter top when she said this.

"All of it." Sharpay said quietly as she finished up her hair.

"So you actually believed what I said about Zeke." Penelope said looking Sharpay directly in the eyes.

"Considering that Zeke did to us, what Chad's dad did to his mother and Tiffany, I find the situation highly believable. Sometimes I think Zeke is more related to Charles then Chad is. Although considering how much Charles slept around it's entirely possible he could be a relative." Sharpay said in annoyance.

"Thanks so much for your vote of confidence." Penelope said trying to leave again for the third time. "Knock on the door when you're done in here."

"You did not answer my question last night. Is Richard hitting you?"

"Just because someone hit you doesn't mean someone is hitting me. Why do you think Richard is hitting me?" Penelope asked this in a way that was practically a confession.

"I dated him in high school and I know what type of person he is. Underneath the hot exterior lies a very evil person who doesn't care about anything but himself." Sharpay said as she started putting her make up back in her case.

"Is there a cute guy in New Mexico that you haven't dated at some point?" Penelope asked in irritation.

"I never dated Troy." Sharpay said with a shrug as she unplugged her curling iron.

"Unfortunately, he falls under the almost married category. So because Richard hit you in high school, now you think he's doing the same to me?" Penelope said this in a defensive way.

"He never hit me. He grabbed onto my arm really hard once, but he never hit me. He put GHB in my punch and raped me because I said no. That's just as bad. If he could do that to me, then maybe domestic violence isn't that far away. Bruises like yours don't come from cheerleading. I understand. It's so much easier to pretend it's not happening. But it is happening." Sharpay said as she placed her makeup case in her designated drawer and left the bathroom.

* * *

"My boss is a complete ass." Caroline heard her boyfriend say as she picked up her phone. She was expecting her son to call her again. Instead it was her boyfriend who she hated being 2000 miles away from.

"We already knew that. Aren't you supposed to be in first period right now?" Caroline said as she walked over to close her office door. She didn't want the entire office to know about her personal life.

"I needed to vent before I faced a roomful of 14 year olds." Jack said with a touch of anger.

"What happened today?"

"I'm being reassigned."

"To a different school?" Caroline asked knowing that he would hate that.

"To a different department." Jack said with a sigh.

"Which department?" It must be a really bad transfer if he's this upset.

"Drama." Caroline started laughing hysterically. The irony of the situation was not lost on her.

"It's not that funny."

"No it's not funny, just deeply ironic. Let's face it, until Troy went over to the drama side you and Miss Darbus were at each other's throats. Why are you being reassigned to the drama department? Isn't that essentially Miss Darbus's domain."

"She's taking a medical leave of absence next semester. According to Troy her cancer is back and she's moving in with her daughter."

"That's unfortunate. How is Troy taking the news? I know she is one of his favorite teachers." She asked with genuine concern.

"She told Kim, Troy, and Sharpay yesterday. They're not taking it very well. Troy and Kim pretty much locked themselves in the bedroom the rest the of the evening after surviving the dinner from hell with my mother, soon to be former mother in law, and Julia." He spat out the last two names with a certain amount of anger.

"Are you sure that's the reason why?" Caroline has heard enough stories from Jack and her son about Troy and Kim to know what was really going on.

"It was one of the reasons. I think they were being loud on purpose just to get back at my mother. I didn't fall asleep until 4:00 AM. I'm going apartment hunting next week. I can take living with Kim and Alex. However, there's no way I'm staying in the same house with two people who are essentially newlyweds." Caroline started laughing again.

"Sorry that was just too funny. Please continue."

"You wouldn't be laughing if it was Chad and Sharpay you were forced to listen to. My mom and Lucy's mom made a big deal over Troy staying with Kim in her room. They decided to let them know exactly what was happening in said bedroom. Unfortunately, I have the bedroom next door."

"Her last name is Bolton and they already have a two year old child together. It's pretty obvious to everyone what's going on."

"You also forget that it is technically Troy and Kim's house. My 18 year old is already a homeowner."

"My 17 year old is engaged to a girl who will inherit half the Evans investment group as soon as they say I do. Why can't we have normal children who get married at 30 after dating a lot?"

"Because we got married right out of college." Jack said with a sigh.

"So you're actually teaching drama next semester. Troy is going to laugh hysterically when he hears that." Caroline said changing the subject.

"Only one class. The course load was divided between Ms. Ortega and me. I also get to teach 11th grade Honors English and Dramatic Writing."

"It is closer to what you taught before. You were not that bad of an English teacher." Caroline said trying to reassure her boyfriend.

"I haven't taught English since Troy was in middle school."

"You'll do fine."

"I haven't told you the best part yet. Guess who are going to be my teaching assistants next semester?"

* * *

Troy was currently sitting through the most uncomfortable car ride of his entire life. This was even worse than the ride back from the hospital two weeks ago where he sat in a car with his ex girlfriend's mother and his fiancée after said ex girlfriend was placed in a mental hospital. His aunt was currently making nasty comments about his girlfriend.

"I don't even know where you get half of this stuff Aunt Julia. Contrary to what my mom believes, Kim is a very good person. She loves me very much and I love her."

"That is not what your mom said. You were just one of her many boyfriends when she was in high school and Alex may not even be your kid. She's probably lying to you to keep a hold of you." Troy seriously wanted to kick her out of the car. His entire family was crazy with the exception of his father.

"Or mom is lying to you to keep you on her side. I trust my **fiancée**." Troy said purposely putting extra emphasis on the word fiancée. "I don't think I can ever trust my mother again. Kim didn't date anyone else in school. I am the only person she has ever had sex with, even though we were broken up for nearly two years. Alex is my son. I have the paternity test to prove it." Troy said with a touch of anger. His acting classes were starting to pay off. He only looked slightly pissed off when in reality he wanted to punch her out.

"The fact that you got a paternity test proves that you don't trust your **fiancé**." Aunt Julia spat out the word fiancé as if it were an expletive.

"No, the fact that I took a paternity test proves that my fiancée's lawyer/stepmom was right when she said this situation could happen. Mom knew of Alex's existence for 2 ½ years and never said a word." Troy said as he gripping the steering wheel as tightly as possible.

"Your girlfriend never said anything to you." Aunt Julia said as they pulled in front of the house.

"My girlfriend was scared out of her mind after her mother tried to kill her and our child. It doesn't matter. Nothing I can say will make you change your mind." Troy said as he stepped out of the car and began to walk into a house that was no longer his with his son in his arms. He wanted his mother to get a good look at the child that she kept him from for two years.

"I'm just worried about you. You've only been back together with this girl for a few months and she's already pushing you to marry her." Troy couldn't help but laugh at Aunt Julia's absurd statement.

"If it was up to me Kim and I would already be married. She is the one who wants to wait until I turned 21." Troy said as he walked in the house to see his mother sitting on the couch with a cup of tea. The last time he saw his mother she was being taken away by the cops. He didn't even bother to see her in jail again before he left for Berkeley. He could not even bring himself to call her. He was just too angry.

His mother quickly got up from the couch to hug Troy but he pulled back.

"You are not going to hug your mother?" Lucy said to him. He could not even refer to her as mom in his mind. He didn't want to be here today. Kim was the one who was making him go. She said he needed to make peace with his mother. Troy felt that piece in the Middle East was more possible at this point.

"No, I'm not. It's taking all my strength just to refer to you as mother. Aunt Julia can you please take Alex upstairs. I need to talk to **mom** alone." Troy said trying to conceal his pain and rage. He didn't want his son to see this conversation.

"No problem." Julia said as she took his son upstairs. Even though Aunt Julia didn't like Kim that well, she loves baby Alex.

"Why am I here **mother**?" Troy said sitting on the couch.

"I thought we could talk." Lucy said as she took another drink of her tea.

"Fine let's talk about how you accepted $0.5 million to keep me and Kim apart. Let's talk about how you use Gabriella. If nothing else, she is my friend and right now she is in the psychiatric ward at Albuquerque Medical Center partially because of your intervention. Just so you know, she's getting out Sunday. I'm flying back with her Mon." He notice his mother wince every time he spoke the angry words but she didn't say a word in response.

"It's interesting that you're staying so quiet, would you rather talk about the photographs dad received of you making out with your very young coworker. How could you do that to him?" Troy said In barely controlled rage.

"That doesn't really matter since your father has been screwing his best friend since you were in diapers. She stopped by my jail cell that first night just to tell me that she screwed your father the night before."

Troy knew about that. Kim e-mailed him the pictures and the video file. He and his father have adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when it comes to their personal lives. There's too much Troy doesn't want to know.

"Nothing happened between them until dad asked for a divorce." Troy knew that much was true.

"He asked for a divorce because he wanted to be with her. He's always loved her." That may very well be true but Troy was not going to address that at the moment.

"You can't blame dad for your own choices. Dad is leaving you because you betrayed everyone in this family. How could you hide my son from me?" Troy said practically crying and screaming at the same time.

"I didn't even know for sure if he was really your son." Lucy said in her defense.

"You only believe that because you're convinced that my girlfriend gets around. Maybe the DNA test would help. I actually brought the real copy this time. How can you say such mean things about her when she's never done anything to you? How can you poison the minds of everyone else in this family against her? She even bailed you out of jail." Troy yelled as loud as he could the last part.

"Only because you told her to." The woman he formally called mother screamed back at him.

"No I didn't. I personally want you to rot in jail for what you did. She was the bigger person." Troy said as he got up from the couch. He couldn't deal with her anymore.

"Where are you going?"

"To get **my **son and leave this house for good. I'm not that little kid anymore who did what everyone expected him to do. I'm an adult mom. I have more important things to deal with then you. Goodbye mom, I am not coming back." Troy said without looking back.

Once Troy had his son in the backseat of the he broke down in tears.

**The present**

At 3:35 PM Kerri Jackson was happy to be out of school for the week. She was tired of every girl on campus talking about their dresses and who they were going with to the ball tonight. She didn't want their boyfriends she just wanted their happiness.

She was really tired of Jackie talking about her date with Jimmy. She wanted to tell Jackie the real reason why nothing was going to ever happened with her and Jimmy, but she couldn't do that without betraying her friend's confidence.

Even though she said she didn't want to go to the dance, a part of her did. A part of her that she keeps buried knew exactly who she wanted to go with. She also knew it wasn't going to happen. He was essentially a safety crush because there's no way he would ever have feelings for her. She was the wrong gender.

Kerri scanned the parking lot for her Cousin Tiffany, but she didn't see her. Then she noticed Sharpay's Lexis waiting there. Maybe Sharpay was taking them out for another round of baby shopping. The guest room at the house was already half full with baby paraphernalia.

"Where's Tiffany?" Kerri asked as she approached the car.

"Being very pregnant at your mom's house. Get in the car. You have a 4:00 PM appointment at the House of Hair." Even though she was confused she got in.

"Why exactly do I have a hair appointment?" Kerri asked in confusion.

"You have to be ready for the Winter Ball in 3 hours." Sharpay said pulling out before Kerri even fastened her seatbelt.

"Didn't we have this conversation Saturday? I'm not going to the dance. I don't want to go." Kerri said raising her voice just a little bit.

"Just because you don't want to go, doesn't mean you need to. Let me tell you a story." Sharpay said to her with a sigh.

"Is this going to be the spring dance story again? You already told me what happened. I don't think that story is going to help. Actually, I think that story will probably traumatize me so much that I won't even consider going to prom." Kerri said with a shudder.

"Actually, this is my story about prom. I used what Richard did to me as an excuse to push everyone away. I never let anyone get close to me. Not even my boyfriend at the time. Considering what I learned in the last 24 hours maybe that is a good thing. I don't want you do the same thing I did."

"This story is going to help me how?" Kerri asked with a touch of annoyance.

"The day of senior prom came and I had everything ready to go from the dress to the limo. I was walking to the limo with Zeke and my brother when I started panicking about what could happen that night. I started having flashbacks to the Richard thing. I got so scared that I threw up in the driveway. I ended up missing my senior prom because I was so scared of what could happen." Sharpay said quietly.

"I'm not seeing the persuasive part of this little speech. You should really consider taking public speaking next semester." Kerri said sarcastically.

"Let me finish. A couple weeks ago, Taylor told me that I was actually crowned prom queen. She ended up taking my place because I wasn't there. Chad was nominated as prom king."

"Didn't you two hate each other last year?" She remembered the two getting into arguments in the cafeteria all the time last year. Although thinking about it now it was probably their version of flirting.

"No, I wanted to drag him into the janitor's closet. It just came out as hatred." Kerri was not going to touch that statement.

"Why didn't the golden couple when?" Kerri asked avoiding the purple elephant in the car.

"If you remember the juniors choose prom king and queen. Apparently, they were more aware of the history of Kim and Troy than the senior class was. They also saw what was going on between Chad and me. Looking back on it now, I regret not going because I missed out on something with Chad that I'm not getting back. I just don't want you to have the same regrets I have now."

"Couldn't we have had this conversation a few days ago. It's too late at this point. I don't even have a dress or a date." Kerri said trying to take a different approach.

"When you were arguing that you didn't want to go to the ball Saturday, you kept looking at this strapless ball gown at The Style House. That dress is currently in the trunk with the matching shoes and purse. I spent the afternoon at the Eastside mall picking everything up. I also brought a few pieces from my jewelry collection that you can borrow." Kerri was completely shocked by this statement. Trust Sharpay to think of everything.

"Okay fairy godmother, what are you going to do about the date situation. Are you going to use your magic credit card to turn a Pumpkin into a boyfriend?" Kerri said sarcastically.

"I'm too young to be anybody's mother ferry or otherwise. Think of me as your ferry godsister. No, I can't do the Pumpkin thing. I have something better plan. Because you still refuse to go to the dance with Jason even as a friend, I arranged for another date. Don't worry he will be well behaved, otherwise he'll be sleeping by himself tonight." Kerri knew instantly whom she was talking about.

"I'm not taking your college boyfriend to the Winter Ball."

"I don't see why not. He's six months younger than your last boyfriend. What is he too young for you?" Sharpay said sarcastically.

"I'm not going to win this argument.

"No. What is it with you and your cousin with older guys?"

"I think with Rickey, it was the cheerleader basketball player thing. I'm not answering for Tiffany. I think she's absolutely crazy for what she did."

"I have to agree with you on that point, but not on the cheerleader/basketball player thing. My boyfriend dated one cheerleader the entire time he was in high school. Everyone else he dated qualified for honor roll. He's currently engaged to a dra-business major."

"Still getting used to the new major?" Kerri said picking up on the fact that Sharpay almost said drama.

"I'm still getting used to a lot of things." Sharpay said quietly. Kerri wondered what that statement meant.

"Chad doesn't count because he's an anomaly. He's like a super genius and is not a representative of the normal dumb jocks that populate East High."

"Troy dated drama queen Kim and freaky math girl Gabriella in high school. The current basketball captain is dating a political science major who has the goal of being the first openly gay president."

"Just so you know, Jimmy says he's not dating Marc. He just occasionally makes out with him. I'm not 100% sure what that means. Fine you win. I was only dating Ricky because it was easier than being alone."

"Just because everybody's doing something doesn't mean you should. My new motto is you should be yourself." Sharpay said to her as she turned the corner to the salon.

"This is coming from the girl getting married at 18."

"I'm not getting married at 18. I am engaged at 18. There is a difference. Come on we have to get you ready for the ball, Cinderella." Sharpay said as they finally pulled into the salon parking lot.

**3 hours earlier**

After the fight with his mom, Troy didn't go home. Instead he ended up calling Chad to hang out. He didn't feel like dealing with his other grandmother and he knew Kim needed to work on her film class essay. He almost considered going to see Gabriella but decided against it because he had Alex with him. He would see her tomorrow as planned. He was already too stressed out at this point to deal with anything else.

It turned out hanging out with Chad meant shopping with his best friend and girlfriend has they prepared to surprise Kerri and Jason later today. He was dragged around the Eastside mall by mission mode Sharpay. That worked for him. If he focused on shopping, he didn't have to think of what his mom did. He didn't have to think of the entire mess with Gabriella. He did not have to think about his mentor being sick.

Troy was also learning that shopping was much more fun when you can afford everything you want. Thanks to his super rich girlfriend, he had his own black card. So far he's only made one major purchase. It was currently hiding in his bag at the house. It was originally going to be Kim's Christmas present, but after his conversation with Sharpay this afternoon he was glad he brought it with him to New Mexico.

After they picked up Kerri's dress, Troy spends his afternoon being dragged by Sharpay into the best menswear stores in Albuquerque to get him the perfect suit. There is nothing like going clothing shopping with a two year old to drive you completely crazy. He spent half the afternoon chasing his son throughout the mall.

Halfway into the shopping experience he asked Sharpay why she was making him wear a suits when his father never did anything like that when he was a chaperone. At this point, they sent Alex with Chad to Pizza Village.

"You owe her. You are the reason why she didn't get to go to prom. You're the reason why she's been putting up with your crazy family. You have no idea how horrible they are to your girlfriend. They are all just as bad as Lucy is." Sharpay said to him.

"I saw at dinner last night. Grandma Bolton yelled at Kim twice for cutting Alex's a vegetables wrong. Aunt Julia essentially called her several synonyms for prostitutes for already having a child. She conveniently forgot that I was the father of said child. I don't even want to talk about my maternal grandmother. It's just too painful. I take full responsibility for the crazy family. Although how can I be responsible for Kim having the flu on prom night?"

"She had the flu all right; it was the Alex Bolton flu." Sharpay said this as she threw a suit at him. It took him a few seconds to realize that what they thought was the flu was actually Kim being pregnant. After that he pretty much did whatever Sharpay told him to do for the rest of the afternoon.

At 3:45, Troy picked up his girlfriend from the library where she spent most of the day hiding from his expanded family.

"So how was the visit with Darth Mommy this afternoon?" Kim asked as she slid into the seat next to him and gave him one of her classic kisses that always leave him breathless.

"Do you have to call my mom that?" Troy said as he pulled away from her and turned the car back on.

"Yes, because it's true. I refer to my mom as Darth Lee. My mom was the mastermind behind this entire thing. Your mom was merely one of her tools. My mom is probably hiding out somewhere in Asia. Your mom will probably spend the next 10 to 20 in prison. The DA is already trying to find a way to link her to when my mom tried to have me and Alex killed." Kim said as she put on her seatbelt.

"Kim we're not going to worry about any of that tonight. Tonight is going to be about you and me." Troy said kissing her quickly.

"I thought it was going to be about you and me keeping the freshmen and sophomores from drinking spike punch or fornicating on the roof of the school?" Kim asked sarcastically as they started on the short drive to their house.

"I have other plans. Your best friend pointed out to me how bad things had been these last two weeks. Most girlfriends wouldn't be so understanding about the entire Gabriella situation. Most girlfriends wouldn't open up their home to their boyfriend's psychotic family."

"I like your dad. It's the rest of them that I want to kick out of my house." Kim said in irritation.

"I agree with you there. I stranded Aunt Julia at mom's house today. I couldn't take getting in a car with her again."

"That is why I love you."

"You will love me even more after I tell you the plan. In the back is your very early Christmas present from your best friend." As soon as he said it Kim turned around and grabbed the packages from the back.

"Let's see what we have, a beautiful designer Red dress that is elegant but understated. We even have the matching handbag and shoes. This is definitely a gift chosen by Sharpay. The goodies from Alexandria Lingerie must be from you."

"I couldn't remember if you had a strapless bra or not." Troy said as an excuse.

"So you decided to buy me a matching corset instead?"

"You can never have too much nice underwear."

"How can I keep good underwear with you around? You have been here less than 24 hours and you have already destroyed one bra and two pairs of panties." He had so much fun doing that.

"I haven't seen you for two weeks and I was eager." He said as an excuse.

"Is there another part to this evening other than you ripping me out of that dress?"

"As much as I am looking forward to that part of the evening other things will be involved. I was talking to your best friend, when I realize we never went on a real date. We just kind of jumped into things pretty quickly. So I thought we would correct that tonight."

"I doubt I'm going to be able to get out of chaperoning the dance. Thank you for trying."

"I already thought of that. That's why we have reservations at the best restaurant in town at 5:30 PM with a preselected menu. This should give us just enough time to get through dinner and arrive on time to keep the punch from being spiked." Troy said as he pulled into their driveway.

As soon as they walked into the house his happy mood was ruined by his extended family attacking him and his girlfriend. After 10 minutes of listening to all the things they were doing wrong Troy let out a scream.

"Everybody out of our house. I love all three of you. I'm happy that you came to help us through this difficult time. However, if you can't respect my fiancée or me in our own home you cannot stay here."

"You're kicking your own grandmother out of your home?" Grandma Bolton asked him in shock.

"Yes I am." Troy said with resolve.

"However, I'm gonna put you in one of my hotels. This is what I should have done in the first place." Kim said under her breath.

"What do you mean one of your hotels?" Aunt Julia asked.

"I'm the heir to the Beijing Gardens chain of hotels. I'm sure you'll find the Garden Expressed adequate. Excuse me I have to get ready for a date with my fiancée." Kim said this as she dragged Troy and Alex upstairs.

"I love that you just did that. However, could you have waited until after the dance. We just lost our baby sitter for tonight and Vanessa is at a business meeting out of town."

"Do you think the Garden Room will accept children?"

"If we leave a big enough tip, they will accept anything."

* * *

Sharpay was standing in Kerri's bathroom putting on her makeup. She was wearing a cream evening gown that accentuated her newly acquired curves but was still appropriate for a high school dance. It almost looked like a wedding dress without the veil. The stuff underneath was not. That was for Chad to play with after the dance. She was sure he would have fun getting her out of the cream colored corset and garter belt.

"Kerri and Sharpay your dates are here." Tiffany called from the living room. Mrs. Jackson was on call tonight. She works as a trauma nurse at the Albuquerque Medical center.

"Why are you dressed for the dance?" Kerri asked as soon as she saw Sharpay's outfit.

"Because you won't take Jason to the dance I am. At the rate things are going between my brother and his sister we are probably going to be in laws someday. They're probably doing inappropriate things in his dorm room as we speak." Sharpay said as she approached the stairs.

As she walked down to the living room, she could see Chad with his hands on Tiffany stomach with a happy expression on his face. He must be feeling the babies kick. He was slowly getting used to the idea of having a new brother and sister. Chad is going to make an excellent big brother in a couple months. Sharpay knew he would be a fabulous father when the time was right.

"You looked absolutely beautiful." Chad said kissing her quickly.

"You're my date tonight Chad. No more kissing Sharpay until the end of the dance." Kerri said trying to get the two to pull apart.

"You do realize you're asking for a miracle?" Jason quipped as they walked to the waiting limo.

As they walked into the school 25 minutes later the principle was waiting for them at the door.

"I thought I specifically said that you and Chad were never to chaperone another school dance again?" The principle practically yelled at them.

"Yet you have no problem with the two people who actually conceived a child on school property serving as chaperones." Sharpay muttered under her breath.

"We're not chaperoning. We're dates." Chad said as he led Kerri to the dance floor and Sharpay found them a table.

* * *

Despite the fact that they had to take their two year old son to a four star restaurant, Kim was having a fabulous time. Surprisingly Alex was relatively well behaved. Kim enjoyed the look on Principal Matsui's face when they brought Alex into the dance with them.

"Why exactly are you bringing that child into the school?"

"The baby sitter canceled and grandpa is also a chaperone." Kim said with a shrug.

"I don't see anything wrong with it. I brought Troy to these dances all the time when he was little when I had to chaperone." Jack said coming to her defense as he took his grandson from her.

"Think of it this way if any of the students think about sneaking off to do certain things on the roof we can just let them spend a few minutes with Alex." Kim said sarcastically as she followed Jack to the chaperone table.

An hour and 1/2 later she found herself on top of the roof with Troy. So far chaperoning wasn't that bad except she confiscated two bottles of cheap Rum.

"I can't believe your dad is actually making us check the roof. Actually, I'm personally surprised that he trusts us enough to be up here alone."

"Actually he doesn't know we're coming up here. Troy said as he flipped on the twinkle lights. It was so beautiful up here. Within second she fell Troy's lips on hers. They broke apart a few minutes later with her being completely breathless.

"I am not having sex with you up here again. Not after what happened last time."

"Not going to happen when we have our own house to go back to later with so many places that need to be christened." Troy said as he led her over to the swings. "Do you consider Alex a mistake?" He asked her in all seriousness.

"Alex was Unplanned but definitely not a mistake." Kim said kissing him slowly again before they actually made it to the swing.

"I know you're upset about the first way I asked you a few weeks ago. So I thought you were entitled to have a story you can tell Alex about without blushing." This is when she saw Troy go down on one knee.

"I think I have been in love with you since I was 14 and I saw you walking down the hallway on the first day of school. It wasn't some silly high school crush. It wasn't something that when away after being apart for two years. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you no matter what anyone else says. Kimberly Bolton will you marry me?" That is when she saw Troy bring out the trademark Tiffany box. The ring was beautiful.

"I think I have to say yes since I already have your last name." With that Troy put the beautiful ring on her finger.

"Does this mean you will consider a wedding date before I turned 21?" Troy asked her As soon as he was done.

"We can negotiate later." Kim said as his lips were upon his in a very searing kiss. They were broken apart by the sound of clapping off to the side. She turned around to see Jack, their son, Ms. Ortega, Chad, and Sharpay standing off to the side clapping. Sharpay was standing there with her video camera capturing the entire thing.

"Not only to you now have a story you can tell your grandchildren, but we have it captured on tape." Sharpay said as she walked over to hug her.

* * *

Penelope Castro was trying to study for her chemistry exam that would take place Monday. Instead her boyfriend who only thinks about getting off, was trying to get in her pants. The same thing happened Wednesday night which was how she ended up with bruises on her arms.

"Unlike you I actually need to pass my exams. I'm on an academic scholarship. If I get below a 3.0 I cannot afford to go to school. I have a game tomorrow and will have no time. You need to back off Richard." Penelope said as she pushed his hand away from her panties. She said the exact same thing Wednesday. It didn't work.

"Oh come on it's not like an hour is going to make you fail. Your roommate is gone and we have the whole place to ourselves." Richard said as he pinned her against her bed. Again just like he did Wednesday night. She winced as his hands touch the bruises from two days ago.

"I told you no." Penelope said as she started struggling against him. She fought back more than she did two days ago.

"You know I don't take no for an answer." Last time after he held her down long enough for the bruises to form she gave up. That was not happening tonight.

"That's what your ex girlfriend told me this morning. You should have stuck with the pills." Penelope said as she kicked Richard in the crotch. That caused him toscream in pain and allowed her to get up.

He tried to hit her as he had in the past. This time she dodged the punch. He was stronger but she was more well trained. She threw Nikki's paperweight at him as she ran out the door. A few minutes later she found herself in front of Nikki and Amanda falling to the floor in tears.

* * *

Despite her reservations about going to the dance, she was actually having fun even though her date disappeared half an hour ago. After stupid cheerleader number one and stupid cheerleader number two tried to hit on Chad in a very not subtle way he retreated to the safety of Sharpay.

Actually stupid cheerleader number one offered Chad a BJ in the boys' bathroom as stupid cheerleader number two tried to touch a part of Chad that strictly belonged to Sharpay. Of course the two idiots did this in front of her and Sharpay. If was a miracle Sharpay didn't kill both.

Their stupidity made her wonder why she ever wanted to be like them. She loved cheerleading and the acrobatic stunts but she didn't want to be plastic like the other cheerleaders here. Too bad the high school cheerleaders here couldn't be like the college cheerleaders at A of U. Amanda was definitely a real athlete.

She was currently in the gym shooting basketball barefoot with Jimmy. At some point between the play and the last few weeks he's become one of her good friends. They hung out before because she was a cheerleader and he was a basketball player. It wasn't until she was off the team that they really got to know each other.

They ate lunch together every day and hung out with each other all the time. They told each other things that they would not tell anybody else. He was the only guy she trusted in her bedroom. Although that's probably because he wouldn't try anything. She was not his type.

After her best friend ditched Jimmy to take over for the DJ who had no clue what they were doing they with to the gym. They were just goofing off as they usually did. She would invite Jason to join them, but he was having too much fun talking to Ms. Ortega's 13 year old daughter Brittany.

"You are better than half the boys on the team." Jimmy said as she made another shot from the three point line.

"Unfortunately East High doesn't have a girls team. If they did, I probably would've played basketball instead of cheerleading." Jackie said as she picked up another ball.

"You should try out for the boys team next year."

"That way you will have one person on the team that you don't find attractive?

"That is a myth. You don't find all guys attractive. Why should I? Besides I'm not gay." Jimmy said to her as he shot another basket.

"Unlike my best friend, you don't have to lie to me. I accept you the way you are. I saw you making out with your "special friend"." Kerri said as she shot another basket that went in.

"I'm not denying that. He is a friend with make out privileges. You also saw me hit on Sharpay most of last school year and some of this year until Chad terrified me."

"You have like the biggest crush on Troy last year. Every time he was on the floor you stared at him. You followed him around like a lost puppy."

"You did the exact same thing."

"He is hot. Unfortunately he always had a girlfriend. At least this one is tolerable."

"I agree he's definitely hot. The thing is I also have a crush on his girlfriend."

"Gabriella or Kim?" She asked as she shot another ball.

"Kim, Gabriella is way too sweet. The girl could put you in a diabetic coma." Jimmy said throwing a basketball at her that she caught.

"I heard that was caused by her medication. If you like girls, why will you not date Jackie? You know she's completely in love with you."

"I like boys and girls. Just like guys, I am not attracted to all girls. I see Jackie as just a friend. However, I don't see you as just a friend." Before she had time to process what he just said she felt him kisser. She felt the basketball she was holding fall down to the floor. The kiss was tentative at first until she started kissing him back. It went from sweet to passionate within seconds. At some point they moved over to the bleachers because they were too lost in each other to keep standing. Jimmy's hands didn't roam around anywhere near as much as Rickey's did. Unfortunately she actually wanted Jimmy to.

If she wasn't so lost in his kisses she would realize that the one person she didn't want to see this was standing in the doorway in complete shock.

* * *

Chad and Sharpay were walking back to their building after parking the car. It was more like they were making out on the way back to the dorm room. Chad was already mentally planning how to get Sharpay out of that dress.

"Are you sure it's okay that we left Kerri and Jason there at the dance." Sharpay said as they broke apart at some point.

"Mrs. McKessie said she would pick them both up at 11:00 everything will be fine." Chad said reassuring his girlfriend.

"But apparently not everything's fine in our building." Sharpay said as they noticed the police and paramedics standing around the building. They could see somebody being wheeled into an ambulance.

When they saw Amanda and Marc in the crowd, they ran up to the two of them.

"What's going on?" Chad asked the pair.

"Penelope's boyfriend wouldn't take no for an answer." When Marc said this Sharpay when unconscious. Chad was getting really good at catching his girlfriend.

"Is she okay?" Amanda asked as he helped Chad hold on to her.

"Probably not." Chad said in worry."Where's Penelope?" Chad added.

"Being interviewed upstairs by police. The ambulance is for Richard. She threw a glass paperweight at him. I always say never mess with a cheerleader." Amanda said as one of the paramedics on seeing walked over to help him with Sharpay."

* * *

On Saturday morning after things calm down Sharpay was on the phone with Tiffany canceling their planned to do more baby shopping today. She moved into the community room, because if she stayed in her bedroom with Chad she probably wouldn't finish writing the paper.

After fainting last night she needed to take the next two days off to rest which meant no shopping. It was more like Chad was making her take the next few days off. He fed her breakfast in bed this morning, so it wasn't like she was going to complain.

She had an interesting conversation with Tiffany about how Kerri showed up 30 minutes after curfew with one shoe after being driven home by Jimmy. Their excuse was they were playing basketball in the gym in instead of being at the dance, when she lost one of her shoes underneath the bleacher. Sharpay couldn't wait to hear the real story.

As soon as she hung up on Tiffany, she saw Penelope walking out of the room that technically was assigned to her.

"I hope you don't mind I just can't stay in the other room. Amanda said it would be okay." Penelope said to her.

"It's fine I don't think I could be either. I just want to say I am sorry."

"Why?" Penelope asked her.

"For a lot of reasons. Mostly because I assume the worst about you when I really didn't know you. In high school everybody did that to me and I did the same to you. That was wrong of me. Most of my guilt comes from not reporting Richard 2 1/2 years ago." Sharpay said the last part very quietly.

"I accept your apology for the first reason but not the second. You don't have to apologize for that. I think I probably would do the same thing in that situation."

Penelope said to her.

"That doesn't mean I'm not sorry for what I didn't do."

"Can we just start over? Forget about everything involving me spiking your drink and the whole Zeke situation." That is when Sharpay extended her hand to Penelope.

"Hi my name is Sharpay Evans soon to be Sharpay Evans-Danforth. I'm a business major, but I'm thinking about switching to dramatic writing. In high school everybody assumed I was the ice queen bitch, but I wasn't that person."

"Hi my name is Penelope Castro. I am an education major with a focus on the performing arts. In high school, everybody thought I was easy. In truth, I have only had two partners. Both of which were pricks. It's nice to meet you." Penelope said shaking her hand.

"It's nice to meet you as well." Sharpay said letting go.

**End of section one**

A/N: This is the end of part one of SFFY. If you haven't reviewed, please let me know what you think of the first half of the story. (Don't worry I'm not planning on the second half being anywhere near this long in words.)

Part 2 will begin shortly. I'm already writing chapter 26.


	26. Winter Housing

Thank you to everyone who is still reading this story. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this crazy story. I'm sorry this one took a while; I developed severe writer's depression. The good news is I ended up writing chapter 27 simultaneously. Now I just need to edit it.

**Warning:** sexual dialogue

**Disclaimer:** If I owned high school musical it would have never a aired on the Disney channel in the first place. Disney owns the characters that are recognizable.

**Chapter 26: Adventures in Adult Land Part I: Winter Housing**

**December 15, 2008 10:33 AM**

The apartment was a shoebox with a bathroom. Sharpay was sure their dorm room had more square feet. The furniture was god-awful. It looked like something from a thrift store or from the dumpster down the street. Knowing Chad's mother it was possible. Nothing matched and she doubted she would be given a budget to redecorate.

The only good thing going for the apartment was the floors were hardwood. They were covered under some dreadful cream color rug that needed vacuuming and scrubbing. For the first time, Sharpay will actually have to do the cleaning herself. Even in the dorms, Sharpay had a cleaning person that came to clean the room twice a month.

"Couldn't we at least get a one bedroom apartment?" Chad asked her father's assistant Daniel as he saw the bare mattress in the middle of the living room.

"Your father and Ms. Suarez want you to have the authentic experience of being a married couple in college. This is what my first apartment was like." Daniel said suppressing an evil smirk. Sharpay was sure her dad's assistant was getting a kick out of this entire thing. He never did like her.

"No one's first apartment is this bad." Sharpay said dragging her giant suitcase into the apartment.

"No my first apartment was much worse. At least you have a fully functioning kitchen. I had a hot plate and a microwave. " Daniel said as Chad brought in another bag from the outside. Sharpay wasn't even sure what a hot plate was.

Adding to this exercise in parental torture they were only allowed to bring one bag of clothing each. Chad caught her crying yesterday when she had to choose between her shoes. In the End, she was able to sneak four more pairs into her bag because she put all of her underwear in Chad's bag. It was not as if he needed the space himself. The black lace underwear was for his enjoyment anyway.

To get by for a month her boyfriend needed his basketball gear, five T-shirts that said stupid things such as "My favorite number is 69", five pairs of jeans, some underwear and a few pairs of socks. She actually had to sneak in a more dressy outfit just in case.

Once she dragged the bag inside Daniel opened both her and Chad suitcases.

"What are you doing?" Sharpay asked in irritation.

"Making sure you and your boyfriend didn't sneak in any prohibited stuff." Daniel said as he kept searching the bags. They were given a long list the things they couldn't bring. They could only bring one laptop computer. They brought hers because it was bigger and had a Blue Ray player. Not that they could bring anything to play on it, DVDs of all kinds were prohibited. Daniel confiscated their mp three players before they even left the dorms.

They were only allowed to keep one of the cars. She would have to let Ryan used the other one while he was staying with Taylor at the mansion. She understood that Taylor wasn't ready to be with her parents right now. It just made her mad that her brother and Taylor would get to play house in the mansion while she and Chad were stuck in this dreadful apartment just blocks from campus. It wasn't fair.

Her father's company bought this complex a couple months ago and was in the process of renovating the units. They shoved her and Chad into one of the units still being fixed.

"Did we pass?" Chad asked Daniel in annoyance.

"For now, although I seriously doubt the black lace underwear is yours Mr. Danforth." Daniel said this as he held up one of Sharpay's designer black bras.

"It is for my entertainment." Chad said with an evil little smirk as he took the piece out of Daniel's hand.

"I'm not going to say anything. Now if you two can please hand over all your credit cards and debit cards, as well as, your checkbooks." Sharpay almost went into tears as she handed Daniel her American Express card.

"In this bag contains everything you'll need for the next three weeks. You will need to e-mail your budget to Ms. Suarez by the end of the day. You have your first Lamaze class tomorrow night with Ms. Jackson. You're to pick up your brother tonight at the Airport where you will turn over the keys to the car you choose not to keep. Your father apologizes for not being here, but he was called away on business." Sharpay has heard that excuse a lot in her life.

"Of course he does. He puts us through this torture and he doesn't have the decency to show up." Sharpay said in anger as she sat down on the lumpy couch. She was angry that her father was going back to his old ways even though he promised he wouldn't.

"If you have any problems please call. Will you two be okay for the rest of the day?"

"We will be fine Daniel." Chad said as he shoved the man out of their apartment.

"Not a word Chad. Now I know where your intelligence comes from. It takes a true genius to come up with a punishment this devious." With that Sharpay went to survey how bad the bathroom was. When she saw there was only a shower and one tiny sink she started screaming.

* * *

Chad has always known his mom was very creative with punishments. Because Grandpa Sanchez was only slightly less abusive than Darby, his mom didn't believe in spanking. However, with a child who always got into trouble she needed to come up with creative ways to punish him quickly.

In third grade he and Sharpay got into a fight for some reason that Chad no longer remembers that resulted in a substitute teacher handing in there resignation. His mom and Mr. Evans forced him and Sharpay to spend the day together at her office. In seventh grade he and Sharpay got in a shouting match in the middle of the cafeteria that resulted in a food fight. His mom forced him and Sharpay to work together to clean up the mess. During the summer of 2007, he and Sharpay got in a fight at Lava Springs that resulted in high amounts of property damage. His car fund was utilized to pay for the damages. Chad was starting to see a pattern here.

It makes sense that his mom would come up with a punishment for something she believes detrimental to the both of them. In this case it was the two of them getting married at a young age. It also makes sense that she would enlist Mr. Evans into helping, because the two has been co punishing them for years. Chad forgot about how many times the two met at parent teacher conferences.

As he and Sharpay sat in the living room/bedroom trying to complete the budget after they unpacked everything Chad thought about the note his mom left him.

_Chad I know you see this as a punishment. This isn't like when you and Sharpay would get in trouble at school. Thinking about it now we probably should have just locked you two in room together to work everything out. Although if we did after the Lava Springs incident, we probably would have a grand baby at this point. _

_You know that I'm afraid of you and Sharpay getting married. Not because I think Sharpay does not love you or because I think you will fail miserably. I'm worried about the two of you getting married because of my own personal experiences. I had no idea what I was getting into at 17. As your mom, I want to make sure that you're both prepared. _

_Sharpay I already think of you as a daughter and want to make sure that you're okay. I realize that neither you nor Chad had the best examples when it came to love and marriage. Sharpay I know your mom was a lot like my dad. Probably more than I care to remember. Someday I want you to think of me as the mom you should have had. Chad and Sharpay this is not a punishment. this is another way for me to say I love both of you._

As he read the letter aloud Sharpay started crying. She was crying again when she saw that they would have exactly $1946 after rent, utilities, cable, and their imaginary car payment for everything else. To this Chad, this is a lot of money. However, he knew Sharpay could drop that much at the mall in a single day.

"How are we going to live on $3500 a month?" Sharpay asked as she stared at the computer screen.

"Sharpay she's being generous. That is a lot more money than most college students our age would have to work with. Also, There not asking us to pay tuition out of that money. We're just going to have to get used to a budget. So you're only going to be able to buy two pairs of shoes a month instead of 20. It could be a lot worse." Chad told his girlfriend as he tried to calm her down.

"The only budget I ever had was for the drama club and I usually just supplement it with daddy's credit card." Chad knew exactly how much money was allocated to the drama department. Considering the grand nature of the sets for the senior musical, Chad had a feeling that Mr. Evans supplemented the department budget greatly.

"Daddy's credit card is not an option right now. In the real world it's not going to be. Maybe my mom is right. We need to learn how to be self sufficient. You are never allowed to tell her that." Right after he said that Sharpay gently kissed him.

"Your secret is safe with me. I thought the whole purpose of this experiment was to simulate what we would face as a married couple. In the real world, we are never going to be this poor. I know my trust fund is nowhere near as big as Kim's is; however, it is still an eight digit some. We should be given an amount of money and a place that would reflect that income."

"I'm sure that's what Kim thought before the entire Alex situation. You remember what happened to her after the evil one took over her trust fund. Even with help from Jay and Vanessa, she still had to work part time just to make ends meet. The economy is going to hell right now. The real estate market is a mess and many houses are in foreclosure. Your father's company has slowed down on their development work as a result. In addition, there is the whole thing with your trust fund. You know your dad was unable to take Darby off as a trustee even though they are divorcing. Right now, your dad can keep her from doing anything drastic. If something were to happen to him, she could do the same thing that Kim's mom did to her." Considering how angry Darby was about the engagement, Chad knew she would hurt Sharpay if given the chance.

"Okay you have a point. But did your mom have to make us this poor?"

"Sharpay this isn't poor for Albuquerque. This is lower middle class. I will agree that the apartment is a bit much. However you know this is what a normal college student would have to deal with. "

"Okay I concede you have a point. Unfortunately, this also means that I can't travel to the away games as planned." Chad was upset about that too. Because the cheerleaders it didn't go to the games during winter break Chad would have no one to talk to except for the one player on the team he could tolerate.

The second reason was he did not want Sharpay alone in this apartment. Even with the state of the art computerized locking system he just didn't feel comfortable with her being here by herself. Richard was out on bail after attempting to sexually assault Penelope. The fact that Richard will never be returning to campus did little to keep Chad from worrying. He knew that Richard was furious about what happened and was still in the area.

"I do not want you to be here either. Do you think Ryan would be that upset if you crash his time with Taylor?" Chad asked as he kissed her on the forehead.

"He better be okay with it. I'm going to be letting him have the convertible for the next three weeks, he owes me something." Sharpay said as she picked up the bag that Daniel gave them earlier. After they found the new debit cards and account numbers they abandon the bag to work on the budget. Now Sharpay was exploring the rest of the bag.

"It Looks like your mom decided to send us a present. Maybe it's more money so I can actually shop." Sharpay said sarcastically as she began to rip off the paper. Chad's mouth fell open when he saw the present. Attach was a small card that read:

_I am fully aware that putting horny teenagers who actually love each other together could lead to me becoming a grandmother prematurely. I don't believe the "we're not having sex" line. Be safe Chad and Sharpay, love your mother. Yes, you are both my children. _

"Your mom just gave us a giant box of condoms. Why does everybody give us condoms?" Sharpay said in disbelief.

"I have no idea. From the note, I think my mom nominated herself as Darby's replacement. Be prepared for a very overprotective mom who loves you no matter what. You will love and hate every moment of it." Chad said kissing her on the lips this time.

"Is it wrong to actually look forward to that?"

"Not at all." Chad said to her as the kisses became more heated and he started massaging her breast through her top.

"As much as I enjoy this, I think we have to go pick up Ryan." Sharpay said to him.

"He can take a cab." Chad said pushing her back on the couch as his mouth covered hers once more.

An hour later much to his dismay he found himself once again in the cell phone waiting area of the Albuquerque Airport waiting for Sharpay's brother to show up.

**December 16, 2008 4:15 PM **

Kerri Jackson was 30 seconds from pulling her hair out. After surviving another day where her best friend was not talking to her for some unknown reason, she just wanted to go home and relax. Instead she was teaching Sharpay how to shop on a budget.

She absolutely loved Sharpay. She was like the big sister Kerri always wanted to have. At this moment she wanted to strangle the woman.

"Why cannot I just by the prepackaged macaroni?" Sharpay said in a whiny voice as she picked up the container from the deli.

"The prepackaged macaroni and cheese is $6.00 a container. A pack of macaroni and cheese is 33¢. With other ingredients added, you can make six males of macaroni and cheese for the cost of the one prepackaged dinner."

"I just spent the entire day packing up Miss Darbus's classroom. I don't want to slave over a hot stove." Sharpay said with a pout that probably would have worked on Chad.

Sharpay told her, Jackie, and, Jimmy the real reason Miss Darbus was leaving so suddenly earlier today. That was the only time in two days that her and Jackie were in a room together for more than a few minutes. She didn't know why, because Jimmy and she have been really careful not to give away the change in their relationship. She knew Jackie would be upset when she found out.

"As if you are going to be slaving over a hot oven, just use the microwave." Kerri said to her in annoyance.

"This is so unfair." Sharpay said as she put the package back. This is the third argument that they had since they stepped foot into the grocery store 10 minutes ago. They were at Food Land Warehouse because it was a cheaper store and Sharpay was apparently banned for life from _Specialty Foods of Albuquerque_.

"So how are classes going?" Sharpay was obviously looking for something to talk about.

"Good. Finals are going to start in a few days and I already have my final project for English class done. To bad Kim isn't going to be here for the next few weeks. It's unfair that you get three weeks in college for winter break."

"I get to spend those three weeks and a minuscule apartment."

"How can the apartment be that bad? You been living in a dorm room for the last four months."

"At least in the dorms we have somewhere else to go. We have a study room and the community room. There is even a computer lab in the basement." Sharpay muttered as she grabbed a loaf of fresh French bread from the deli.

"Yes I know it's an entire dollar more than the normal bread. It's not cheaper if I refuse to eat it."

"I didn't say anything." Kerri said as she put a few things in her own cart. It was her weak to do the shopping because her mother would be working late shift this week.

"Speaking of not saying anything, how exactly did you end up with one shoe Friday night?" Of course, Sharpay was going to ask about that. Tiffany has been hounding her for the last few days about what happened.

"I will tell you the same thing I told Tiffany. We got tired of the dance in the cafeteria and we went to the gym. You cannot exactly play basketball in high heels, so I took them off. We were playing so hard that I must've kicked it somewhere."

That was partially true. They did sneak out of the cafeteria where the ball was taking place to go to the gym. At some point, they were playing basketball and she did take off her shoes so she could play better. At some point basketball became a make out session. When they heard Coach Bolton coming in they ran out of the gym so fast that she accidentally left one of the shoes behind.

On Monday morning during gym class Coach Bolton returned the shoe to her and asked her to remember everything they covered in chapter 12 Last year in Health Class. Chapter 12 was the safe sex chapter. She spent the remainder of the gym class hiding out from her gym teacher.

"For some reason I don't believe you. Cinderella, what did you and your prince charming do in the gym?"

"Jimmy and I did nothing in the gym." Kerri was almost positive she stuttered twice when speaking that statement. "There is nothing going on between me and Jimmy. He's just a friend. Besides he likes guys." That was not a complete lie either. He was just a friend who Kerri dragged in the janitor's closet sometime during lunch this afternoon. For some reason Sharpay just rolled her eyes at her as she went to grab the pre cooked bacon from the shelf.

"Don't even say it's cheaper to get the other stuff. Just so you know Jimmy likes girls to. You do remember that he had a crush on both me and Troy last year." Kerri swallowed hard as Sharpay said that.

"What else do you know?"

"Only what the boyfriend of Chad's mother told me." Kerri had no idea what she was talking about until she remembered according to Jason and Kim, Coach Bolton was dating Chad's mom. For a metropolitan area with over half a million people, Albuquerque seemed like a really small town some times.

**December 16, 2008 6:05 PM**

"I don't think the macaroni is supposed to be this crunchy." Chad said as he took a bite of the macaroni and cheese that his girlfriend prepared earlier. He had a strange feeling that even though they agreed to split everything 50/50, he would be doing the majority of the cooking. At least she didn't cause the microwave to catch fire this time.

"I don't think the cheese is supposed to be like this. I don't know what went wrong. I followed the instructions." His girlfriend said breaking him out of his thoughts. Chad sincerely doubted that, but didn't say anything to his girlfriend. He did not want to sleep on that couch tonight.

"Did you drain the water?" Chad asked her as he tried to eat another bite of the food.

"You're supposed to drain the water?" His girlfriend asked in complete shock.

"You did actually read the instructions?" Chad asked his girlfriend. This just made her upset.

"Of course I've read the instructions. I don't remember anything about draining water."

"Do you want grilled cheese or a Turkey sandwich?" Chad said getting up and walking into their kitchen.

"Grilled cheese," Sharpay said with a little disappointment.

"Anything else," Chad said as he grabbed the bread from the shelf. At least Sharpay put up the groceries.

"That's good."

"By the way draining the water was instruction number two." Chad said as he threw the macaroni box at her and went back to making their sandwiches. Sharpay didn't say anything until he came back 10 minutes later with slightly crispy grilled cheese.

"Maybe you should cook tomorrow. Ryan and Taylor want to come over to see if the apartment is as bad as I said it was." Sharpay said sheepishly as she took a bite of the sandwich.

"Of course I will cook. We wouldn't want your brother to die of food poisoning." That comment earned him the "you're so sleeping on the couch" look.

**December 16, 2008 7:20 PM**

Chad and Sharpay pulled outside the Eastside community center at 10 minutes before the class was supposed to start.

"So how is pseudo married life?" Tiffany asked as the two caught up with her in the hallway.

"My mother is a sadist who is getting way too much fun out of torturing us with the horrible studio apartment and homework assignments such as creating an actual budget. It doesn't even feel like we're on vacation."

"I had so much fun with Kerri learning how to shop on a budget today." Sharpay said sarcastically as she picked up Tiffany's pillow from the floor.

"Were you able to get her to confess what happened Friday night?" Tiffany asked as they continued walking down the hall to the classroom.

"She told me the same story she told you." Sharpay said not looking at Tiffany. The truth was Kerri told her everything including the kissing on school property during lunch today. Kerri also made Sharpay promise not to tell Tiffany until she was ready to let other people know.

"I just don't believe that story. If it wasn't for the fact that the guy driving her home had no possible interest in her whatsoever, I would think that her and Jimmy arrived late because they were making out. I mean there's no way she could be getting busy in the backseat of a car with a guy who has a boyfriend."

Sharpay could tell that her boyfriend was trying not to laugh, but couldn't quite manage it. Considering he pointed out to her that Jimmy played for both teams she knew why he was snickering so much. She shot him the "you're making a fool of us" look. That caused him to stop immediately.

"Sorry it must be dusty in here. Maybe Sharpay can talk to her Thursday when she doses the drama class final exams. Now let's get through this exercise in torture call Lamaze class." Her boyfriend said changing the subject.

"I'm sorry I got you guys drafted as birthing coaches." Tiffany said in apology.

"It's okay. Sharpay probably would have made us come anyway if my mom didn't. You know for the woman who slept with her husband, you and mom get along really well."

"That's because she screwing Lucy's husband now." Sharpay said it so quietly that only Tiffany could hear as they walked into the room. Tiffany was laughing so hard Sharpay knew she heard her.

"I am so looking forward to doing more sibling bonding. What can be greater sibling bonding then actually watching them be born?" Chad said this last part sarcastically. He was in so much trouble when they got home. She would make him sleep on the couch for his snide comments. It did not have the same effect because there in the same room.

There were dozens of couples sitting on the floor preparing for class. Not all of them appear to be traditional couples. A middle aged woman with dark curly hair stood in front of the class preparing at a PowerPoint presentation and DVD. She quickly walked over to greet the three of them.

"You must be Tiffany. I'm Nurse Catalina Rodriguez, the instructor for this class. Dr. McKessie and your aunt told me you would be joining the class. Now is this the father or just a friend you brought with you." Sharpay was just happy that this person didn't automatically assume that Chad was the father.

"This is Chad, my babies half sibling and his fiancée Sharpay. Chad's mother thought it would be good for both him and Sharpay to have an idea of what childbirth was like before they got married." Tiffany said to the nurse as they found an empty spot on the ground.

"That's a brilliant ideal. I think if I went to this class before that night in the desert, I wouldn't be a single parent right now. You guys are in luck. Today we will show the childbirth video."

**December 16, 2008 9:23 PM**

"I'm having a caesarean." Sharpay said the moment the DVD was over.

"That seems fair. I'm surprised you didn't ask for me to have a vasectomy." Chad said as a joke.

"Don't tempt me."

**December 17, 2008 5:35 PM **

Chad had no idea how his girlfriend talked him into helping her clean out her childhood home. He was pretty sure it involved her favorite persuasion technique. He did not even like packing up his childhood home. Sharpay Evans was just way too evil for her own good sometimes. He loved her anyway.

Although he loved his girlfriend tremendously he could not take her bickering with her brother much longer. When Chad asked Ryan if it would be okay if Sharpay stayed with him tomorrow, he accidentally told Ryan the real reason. How was Chad supposed to know that Sharpay chickened out on Thanksgiving and didn't tell her brother about the Richard incident? Ryan just spent the last 2 hours yelling at his sister for not telling him as they sorted through their old baby stuff.

Because Chad couldn't take the bickering between the siblings, Chad decided to sneak out of the house with Taylor to pick up some of the thing Sharpay forgot for their dinner tonight. For some reason Ryan and Taylor still insisted on seeing their shoebox of an apartment.

"Kerri did a good job teaching Sharpay how to shop on a budget. Everything Sharpay picked up is non perishable or easily prepared." Chad said as he picked up the things for a salad from the produce area.

"Maybe Sharpay just stuck with what she thought you and her could cook. I do remember you blowing up my family's microwave last year." Taylor said as she grabbed a loaf of bread and put it in her own cart.

"I did not blow up the microwave. I just accidentally superheated some water. Contrary to popular belief I can cook some. After the divorce, I got tired of microwave cuisine and McDonnell's. I learned to cook a little. However, don't tell my grandma that. I have her convinced I can't do anything in the kitchen. If she knows I have any skills whatsoever, she will draft me to help with thanksgiving next year. I'm not as good as Zeke but I take great pride in being nothing like that prick. At the very least we will not end up with extra crunchy macaroni in a water sauce." Taylor started laughing hysterically as he recounted the story of last night's dinner as they continued shopping.

"What I personally would like to know is why you kept eating?"

"It was not her fault she never developed any real life skills. Let's face it; we all know that Darby was not the type of woman that showed Sharpay and Ryan how to make Christmas cookies. Darby would not even let Sharpay have a cookie. At least Sharpay tried to cook. I love her and I want to help build up her confidence."

"Love is the only reason I could think of anybody trying to eat that extra crunchy macaroni and cheese. Giving yourself food poisoning is not going to build up her confidence. If Sharpay keeps cooking you are going to need a jumble bottle of Pepto Bismol." Taylor said with a laugh.

"Very Funny." Chad said as he placed a pack of chicken in the cart for tonight's dinner. He was going to try a simple Chicken and pasta dish. Unlike his girlfriend, he knew that the water must come to a boil before putting the pasta in. At that moment his cell phones started playing _As Long As You Love Me_. Apparently, Sharpay was goofing off with his cell phone again.

"Why is your telephone playing a Backstreet Boys song?" Taylor said as she started laughing again.

"Why did you change my ring tone?" Chad asked his girlfriend immediately.

"I could and I was bored this morning on the way to the mansion. You already have the song on your phone. I just made it a ring tone." Judging by the fact Taylor was laughing even louder she probably heard what Sharpay just said.

"Where are you? It is okay for you and Taylor to come back. We're no longer screaming at each other."

"I sincerely doubt that. We will meet you at the apartment when we're done shopping. Taylor and I are picking up a few things you forgot. Is they anything else we need?"

"I think I did an excellent job shopping yesterday." Sharpay said in her defense.

"Yeah but you forgot a few things like meat."

"I remembered to pick up Turkey." Sharpay told him.

"I was thinking more along the lines of hamburger and veggie burgers."

"Veggie burgers are not meet."

"That's beside the point. I just thought you wanted something else tonight."

"Whatever you want, you are cooking. Can you please pass the phone to Taylor?"

"Why didn't you call Taylor's phone?"

"I would but it fell out of her pocket when my brother was most likely screwing her against the wall this afternoon when you and I were actually eating lunch." That statement got Taylor to stop laughing.

"We were not having sex during lunch." Chad heard Ryan scream at his sister loud enough for the phone to pick up.

"In that case it was probably just a blow job." Chad heard Sharpay say. From the choking sounds being made by Taylor, Chad was sure his girlfriend was right. Chad just passed the phone to her.

"No way am I getting that for you. I may have been willing before the little blow job comment, but not now." Chad heard Taylor say in to the phone as she walked over to pick up some fish from a nearby freezer case. She was too far away for Chad to hear the rest of the conversation.

"Ask your boyfriend. You're marrying the guy. He's going to have to do a tampon run eventually." That little statement reminded Chad that it was placebo week. Fortunately, for him his girlfriend was on the type of birth control pills that allowed the user to only have four periods a year. Sharpay Evans periods were legendary. They usually involve tantrums and Sharpay throwing something at unsuspecting underclassmen. Chad was pretty sure Sharpay dumped her iced cappuccino on Donny during "placebo week" last spring. He would be dealing with a cranky Sharpay during "placebo week" in that tiny apartment. That thought was the only thing that made him happy for an away game.

"Give me the phone." Chad said grabbing the phone

"Why did you ask Taylor instead of me?"

"She has a better chance of bringing the right thing to the apartment."

"How hard can it be? There cannot be that many different types of tampons." Taylor started laughing again.

10 minutes later Chad stood with Taylor in the feminine hygiene aisle looking at the dozens of different types of pads and tampons. He knew if he got the wrong thing, Sharpay was going to hurt him.

"Help?" That just triggered more laughing from Taylor.

"Why do you think this is so funny?" he asked her.

"I just find it funny that I never put you through this torture. I'm planning on doing this to Ryan the first chance I get." Taylor said with an evil little smirk.

"You have to train your new boyfriend as soon as possible. Oh wait you are working on that this afternoon when you were sucking on his…"Neither he or Taylor noticed both of Taylor's moms standing behind them. Fortunately, Chad was cut off before he said that last word.

"What new boyfriend?" Asked Vanessa and Alexis at the exact same time. Now it was Chad's turned to start laughing. Taylor never told her parents about her new relationship with Ryan. For the next 20 minutes he overheard the ultimate mother daughter argument.

**December 17, 2008 7:05 PM**

"Oh my god this place is horrible. What did you do to get this punishment?" Ryan said as they walked down the hall to her tiny little apartment.

"For someone who has a dorm room smaller than a shoebox, you seem just a little too shocked by this."

"But that's a shoebox in New York. This place is a disaster. You told me yourself you killed two bugs yesterday. You did call Daniel to have the place fumigated?"

"Immediately. I'm almost convinced Chad's mom had bugs put in the apartment to make the experience more uncomfortable. Are you sure you don't want to eat dinner at the mansion?" Sharpay said pulled out her electronic key to open the door. Ryan never got to answer that question because they saw Taylor's(adopted) mom waiting on the couch as Taylor's other mom was standing in the kitchen area with Chad.

"Hello Mrs. McKessie and Mrs. Kim," Ryan said from the hallway. "What are you doing here?" Sharpay could hear the nervousness in her brother's voice.

"Dr. McKessie is here for the traditional terrorizing of the boyfriend. With all her medical training, unlike your father I'm sure she could make good on the castration threats. She could probably perform a vasectomy too." Sharpay knew Chad was kidding around. However nobody else did. No one else was aware of his fabulous acting skills. To bad, she won't be taking Intro to Acting with him next semester.

"I specialize more in female sterilization procedures, but I did do a couple of vasectomies in med school." Ryan gulped visibly.

"It seems that we're going to have to take a rain check on dinner Sharpay. Thanks to your stupid boyfriend and his big mouth were going to dinner with my parents tonight." Taylor said crossing her hands over her chest in irritation.

"I don't see why you're so upset about this. You've been back for three days and you haven't even visit the house one time. The first time I see you is on accident at the store. Of course, that's when I overhear you and your ex boyfriend talking about you and your current boyfriend."

"Come on Taylor let's go. I will pick you up tomorrow. " Ryan says as he hugs his sister goodbye. With that Taylor, Ryan and Mrs. McKessie were out the door. Sharpay instantly noticed that Vanessa stayed behind.

"Aren't you going with the three of them?" Sharpay asked Vanessa.

"Taylor and I are not at a mother daughter bonding point in our relationship. Also at four months pregnant I need at least another hour before I can try walking down four flights of stairs."

"Vanessa is staying to teach us how to cook. Apparently your best friend told her all about the crunchy macaroni and cheese in the water sauce thing." Chad told her as he pulled her into the little kitchen.

"No Kim told me about Sharpay catching the microwave on fire when trying to cook lunch when she baby sat Alex a couple weeks ago. I'm here to make sure you two don't accidentally poison my grandson."

**December 18, 2008 6:10 AM**

"Okay why are you up at 6:10 AM? More importantly why are you getting me up at 6:10 AM?" Chad asked his girlfriend still half asleep.

"I have to be at the school by 7:30 AM. I wanted to say goodbye to you before I left. Besides I'm a little bit upset that you because you won't be here when I have to judge the talent show tonight."

"I don't get to choose when away games are. Personally I prefer to spend the day with you in bed." Chad said pulling her back into bed.

"Not going to happen. Get dressed. I am going to work on breakfast."

"That's okay I will have cereal." Even after yesterday's unprompted cooking lesson he really did not trust his girlfriend in the kitchen. Although they were able to make a decent chicken pasta, the fire alarm when off three times and Sharpay ran off crying at least once. That may have something to do with it being a placebo week. Thank god he only has to go through this four times a year.

"The only way I'm going to get better is to keep practicing. I'm going to do something simple cheesy scrambled eggs and hash browns." In his mind Chad already came up with 15 different ways Sharpay was going to ruin that simple recipe. He decided to let her try anyway. If worse comes to worse, he can always have cereal after she leaves for the school. Also if he accidentally got food poisoning he wouldn't have to go on the away game.

"Fine you can cook. I'm going to go take a shower". Chad said kissing her on the cheek quickly as he got up. During the shower he heard the fire alarm go off twice. He was expecting to see the kitchen and living space filled with smoke when he exited out of the bathroom. Instead he saw breakfast sitting on the table.

"I told you I could do this."

"We'll see." Chad said as he sat down in his seat and ate a bite of the eggs.

"They're actually edible." That earned him a smack on shoulder.

"I told you I could do this."

"Yes, you actually learned how to cook scrambled eggs."

"You're such an ass before breakfast." She said laughing.

"You love me anyway." Chad said leaning over to kiss her.


	27. High School Never Ends

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this crazy story. Thank you to everyone who is still reading.

For anybody wondering how Taylor and Chad can get along after everything that happened read the companion story _Gabriella Ryan Taylor Manhattan_. The big Taylor Chad showdown is actually in chapter five of that story.

Warning: sexual dialogue

Chapter 27: Adventures In Adult Land Part II: High School Never Ends

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable. There are also a couple of properties that I name-drop in this chapter; I don't own those properties either.

**December 18, 2008 11:35 PM**

Chad hated away games. Let's be honest he hated basketball period these days. Away games were the worst. He hated being away from Sharpay. He already knew that he could not do any career that would keep him away from her for extended periods of time. That meant NBA superstar was definitely out.

Not that he really saw himself playing basketball beyond this season. He wanted to strangle most of his teammates at this point. He didn't fit in and unlike in high school he wasn't going to act stupid just so he could. At least at home games he had Sharpay to cheer him on from the bleachers. That made it bearable.

He just got back a little while ago after being forced to listen to his teammates complain about losing the game by one point. He had too much adrenaline in his system to fall asleep. Usually he would hang out with Amanda or do homework until he could go to sleep. Tonight that was not an option.

Other times he would call Troy and they would compare away game horror stories. He knew better than to call at night when Troy was with Kim. Chad didn't know what was worse interrupting father/son time or interrupting Troy/Kim fun time. He didn't want to do either.

He thought about taking a walk outside. It was snowing pretty heavily or at least it was snowing heavily for someone who rarely saw snow. In the morning, he would probably go out in the snow but tonight the only thing he really wanted to do was call Sharpay.

"What are you doing?" Chad asked as he called his girlfriend.

"I am currently moving my things into the guest room downstairs. That way I can actually get some sleep tonight." Sharpay said to him with a hint of bitterness. He could tell she was tired and extremely irritated.

"Why are you moving downstairs?" Just then Chad heard moaning and groaning in the background. "Do you have porn on? If you needed a release, all you had to do was call. I can tell you all the wicked things I want to do to you. There are so many places I want to lick and touch." He said the last part using his bedroom voice.

"I'm not having phone sex with you." He could hear a tiny bit of annoyance in his girlfriend's voice.

"I am board and still suffering from a postgame high. I have too much energy to sleep and it's snowing outside."

"You do know I'm rolling my eyes at you right now. I'm not here for your entertainment."

"That's not what you said last night. Oh wait you were calling me god at the time." He said with a quick laugh.

"Again, I am rolling my eyes. That was two nights ago. I thought you only got that postgame high when you actually won?"

"How do you know the outcome of the game? I thought you were judging the talent show?"

"I followed on my cell phone when I was supposed to be judging the competition. Don't tell anybody. It kept me from throwing things at Tierra." It was never a good sign when Sharpay hates you enough to not even bother pronouncing your name correctly.

He would tell his girlfriend that it was absolutely adorable that she was keeping up with his game at the talent show, but he was cut off by a voice that he remembered quite well yelling, "Faster Ryan. Oh my god, I'm going to come." It was so loud that the cell phone was picking it up despite not being in speakerphone mode.

"Was that Taylor?" Chad asked Sharpay in shock. A loud string of expletives coming from both Ryan and Taylor confirmed it.

"Those are the sounds of my brother and your ex girlfriend having very loud sex in the next room. Thank god, dad is in Singapore. I'm surprised the bed hasn't broken yet. I swear they're doing this on purpose. I know that after more than two months and thousands of text messages our relationship is better, but I think she's doing this to torture me. This is my punishment for dating you. I'm going to have to devote an entire therapy session to this. I'm scarred for life." He knew his girlfriend was upset, however, he couldn't help but laugh. She was in full blown drama queen mode.

"It's not that funny Chad. This is not what I wanted to deal with after surviving my adventures in high school land. All I wanted to do was come to the mansion, lay in bed with a nice heating pad, and work on one of my short stories."

"Is this one of your special short stories?"

"Now I'm just glaring at you through the phone. Do you think of anything besides having sex with me?"

"I'm not thinking about having sex with you. I'm thinking about doing everything else, like slowly kissing every single inch of your skin as you lay completely bear on our bed. In my mind I'm currently running my tongue over that certain spot. You know what I am talking about. The one that always makes you scream. Since you don't want me to talk about my mouth sucking on that most precious part of your anatomy, you can tell me all about your day." He heard a hitch in her breath when he started talking dirty to her.

"You're so evil. Shouldn't you be sleepy?"

"You know I'm not going to go to sleep any time soon. Just talking to you helps me relax. Tell me what happened today?"

"I'll tell you everything as soon as I get to the guest room." He could hear Sharpay picking up things in the background.

"Come on they have to be done by now? Shouldn't he be too terrified to touch Taylor after yesterday's meet the parents dinner?" Just then his girlfriend switched the phone to speaker mode and he heard more "love sounds" from the room next door.

"That never stopped you. I told you this was her true revenge against me. I stole her boyfriend and now she's making me listen to her doing things to my brother that I want to repress."

**December 18, 2008 8:35 AM**

Sharpay had no idea why she agreed to do this. It was already painful being here packing up Ms. Darbus's class room Tuesday. She wasn't supposed to come back until the second week in January. That was before everything was changed by a stupid cancer diagnosis.

Sharpay knew things were worse than what she was told because Ms Darbus wasn't able to stay another week to oversee the final exams herself. Sharpay tried not to think about how tired Ms Darbus sounded on the phone when she and Ryan called her yesterday on the way to the apartment from hell.

An hour into the Drama I performances, Sharpay already had a massive headache. Over the course of the next two days each student in groups of two will perform a scene from a play or film chosen by Ms. Darbus.

Some of the performances were really good. Chad's Cousin Carmen performed a scene from the play _Graceland _with her best friend Margarita Rodriguez. Other performances were absolutely horrible. She wished Ryan would let her pour her iced cappuccino on top of Donny. He screwed up half his lines. However, she didn't feel like channeling Darby at the moment. It was obvious to sharpay that he didn't rehearse enough.

Unlike in previous years, this semester the performances had an audience. The evil principle that they all hated decided that the two teachers taking over the drama department next year should monitor the final exams. Their students sat in the back watching the performances. If the performance was good, they clapped. If it was bad they threw things. By the end of Donny's performance from Hamlet the stage was covered with paper.

Jack and Ms. Ortega agreed with Ms Darbus's suggestion that three students familiar with the performing arts should grade the performances. Sharpay blamed Kim for her current predicament. If Kim was not off in California house hunting with Troy, she would be the third person. Instead they were stuck with Kelsey. Penelope would have been a preferred alternative.

If her brother and his ex girlfriend kept arguing she doubted that either of them would be alive to grade the second day's performances. She could understand the animosity on Ryan's part. Ryan and Kelsey have been friends for years and she cheated on him. It wasn't just "I fell in love with someone else" cheating. It was "I am sleeping with someone else behind your back" cheating. Then she had the audacity to accuse him of being with Taylor before the break up. In between performances, Sharpay had to listen to snide comments being traded back and forth.

Sharpay was a little surprised they were yelling at each other. Kelsey usually stayed quiet. According to what Ryan and Taylor told her, Kelsey has been giving him the silent treatment sense after Thanksgiving.

"I thought you said she was ignoring you," Sharpay whisper to her brother during the last performance of the morning. The cheerleader who offered her boyfriend a blowjob last Friday was currently on stage performing the final scene from Romeo and Juliet. Nicholas Cross had the misfortune of being her partner. Sharpay personally wished stupid cheerleader number one was actually drinking poison up there.

"This is the first time since the initial argument that Kelsey has said more than five words at a time to me. She has mostly stuck with icy glares and making out with Natasha in front of me. I think she's a little upset about Taylor's revenge last weekend." Ryan whispered back to her as his cheeks became tinted with redness.

"What did you and Taylor do? Please keep the details down to a bare minimum. I'm already nauseous." Sharpay whisper to her brother in annoyance.

"After surviving the most uncomfortable meet the parent's scenario ever Kim called to check up on us last night. By the way she said you need to call her. Any way she told us all about this incident where you got back at Richard by pretending to have sex with Chad at the best menswear store in town. We did the exact same thing to Kelsey, except we did not need to fake it."

"Nice to know at least one of your girlfriends didn't need to fake it. You never know. I'm sure you had no ideal I was faking it." Kelsey said sharply as she turned back around to face the stage just as stupid cheerleader number one screwed up the most important line in the entire scene. Sharpay concentrated on the scene trying not to think about what they were referring to. She did not want to think about her brother having sex with anyone. Denial was a wonderful place to be sometimes.

"Trust me I knew Kelsey. You're not that good of an actress. I'm not offended. I usually had to think of someone else just to get off." That was not a visual that Sharpay wanted to have in her mind. Sharpay was trying her hardest not to pay attention to this conversation. She was focusing on stupid cheerleader number one as she essentially molested Nicholas onstage. Unfortunately for stupid cheerleader number one Nicholas's girlfriend was in Ms. Ortega's 10th grade English class. Stupid cheerleader number one was in serious trouble.

**The Present **

"Stopped laughing Chad," Chad could hear the Irritation in his girlfriend's voice.

"I'm not laughing about Kelsey and Ryan. Okay maybe I am a little. Just the thought of Kelsey talking about that sort of thing is too much. I think the funnier part was happening onstage. Why didn't anybody stop stupid cheerleader number one from molesting Nick on stage."

"Ms. Ortega felt that we should let all the performances go uncensored. We gave extra points to Nicholas for not reacting when she started molesting him during the kissing scene. Your future stepfather was too busy laughing at Ryan and Kelsey. He didn't stop until Kelsey decided to let us all know that my brother had a crush on you and Troy last year."

"Your brother has good taste. However you are my favorite Evans." He said with a laugh.

"You're not bothered by the fact my brother had a crush on you?" Okay maybe Chad should not have said that last statement.

"I already knew. While you were busy chasing Troy during the summer of 2007, your brother decided to get back at you by making a move on me. I'm thinking subconsciously he already knew what was going on between us. Everyone else did. You have no idea how upset he was. He felt like you completely ditched him for Troy."

"I know. I was a horrible bitch to my brother and everyone else. I'm doing much better this year. What do you mean he made a move on you?" Sharpay said that last part as if she just realized what he said before.

"He tried to kiss me. It was after the baseball game. I played it off as if he was joking. We never talked about it again. I have you and he's with Taylor."

"This goes under the category of things you will never tell Taylor."

"Yes. You understand what happened. Taylor may kill him. Can we please talk about the Kelsey and Ryan bickering?"

"I am having so much fun making you squirm. They say turnabout is fair play." Thankfully before the torture could continue he received another call.

"You'll have to wait another minute to continue torturing me. I'm getting another call." Chad said as he switched over.

"Has the separation anxiety kicked in yet?" Kim asked as soon as he switched the call.

"You could at least say hi first." Chad said to her in annoyance.

"Where's the fun in that? I just want to see what's going on with you. Troy is trying to get Alex back to sleep and I thought I would give them a little space. I was bored. I know you will still be up. I figure Sharpay would probably be asleep by now."

"Actually I'm talking to her on the other line. Let me conference you in." Chad said activating the necessary function.

"Hey Sharpay, that was Kim. Your best friend is now on this call, so please refrain from talking about what you want me to do when I get home tomorrow."

"I have a sudden urge to throw a pillow at you. But you're not here. How's everything kim?"

"Only mildly chaotic. That's an improvement for us. No one's trying to kill us. No one's getting arrested. No one's trying to sleep with my future husband. We are only being followed by two reporters. Alex actually behaved today at the away game. We're having a nice normal family vacation for us." Kim said to her friends.

"What are the not so normal parts?" Chad asked her.

"We started off by helping Troy's ex torture her roommate. Your plan worked brilliantly sharpay. I have pictures, but I haven't had time to send them yet." Kim told her friends excitedly.

"I told you it would. At least now Mercedes and Gabriella know that Troy is yours. Seriously I can't believe Gabriella's roommate conspired to break Troy and Gabriella up just so she could date him."

"Didn't you try the same thing?" Chad said to Sharpay. If he was in the same room as her he would never say such things out loud. It did not matter because she chose not to answer.

"Gabriella I'm not worried about. She's handling this surprisingly well considering everything that happened. Although it's probably the drugs. After marking my territory at the sorority house, I had an interview at Stanford. I'm sure if I wasn't worth a bit under three hundred million dollars I would not even gotten an interview."

"Money does have its privileges. I've miss money. I can not even go shopping." Sharpay said with sadness.

"You're crying after four days. Try two years with a kid. Although I'm starting to get a little upset about how people treat you differently because you have money. My encounter with the realtor Tuesday reminded me so much of high school when people only talk to us because we were wealthy." Chad knew that didn't just applied to money. He knew half of his "friends" in high school only talk to him because he was co captain of the basketball team.

"Sucking up to people because of what they can give you is not a trait solely associated with high school students." Chad said in irritation.

"That's very true. When the realtors first saw me and Troy he gave us to one of his underlings to show us some nice college student apartments. The guy tried to take over after my credit check. We decided to stay with the underling Janus. She has been showing us some very nice houses and condos. I'm not looking at mansions. I like to think of myself as Warren Buffett rich. So what's going on with you guys?"

"Another away game and chance for me to spend time with the guys I can't stand. You know the usual. Sharpay is the one who had to deal with the bickering toddlers." Chad told Kim.

"More like a bickering Ryan and Kelsey. I think my parents have been more civil to each other during the divorce." Sharpay said in irritation.

"Okay that doesn't make sense. Chad you're practically best friends with Taylor and you cheated on her with someone else." Kim said in astonishment.

"That required a lot of text messaging and hours of groveling." Chad said to the other two.

"Gabriella and Troy are on speaking terms and he is marrying me. If they can tolerate each other, why are Kelsey and Ryan at each other's throats?"

"I think the drugs are the only things keeping Gabriella from attacking you. Things are never as simple as they seem. Kelsey has a tendency to internalize anger. She is the opposite of Jackie. Because you are here you might as well hear the next part of the story." Sharpay said as she continued on with the story.

**December 18, 2008 10:17 AM**

After the Drama I final ended with a shouting match between Kelsey and Ryan, Jack made her sit between her brother and Kelsey during the drama three presentations. This wasn't such a good idea. Despite all outward appearances, Kelsey and her never really got along. They were frenemys at best. Their relationship has always been very passive aggressive in nature. Kelsey would give the best songs to Troy and the FMG. Sharpay changed Kelsey's lyrics and arrangements just to piss her off. Sharpay would convince Ms Darbus that a one woman show would be most appropriate and Kelsey would secretly sign up everybody to be in the show. However, they never confronted each other directly.

In the past Sharpay was civil to Kelsey because she was her brother's friend and later girlfriend. She couldn't stand her for what she did to Ryan. At least she told Taylor about what happened between her and Chad eventually. She didn't keep it a secret like Kelsey did. The only thing keeping her from smacking the girl upside the head was she was friends with Kelsey sister Jackie.

Sharpay was still edgy from the last performances when the drama III students took the stage. There are only 12 students in this class. They will perform twice over the next two days. The main difference was Drama III students were allowed to choose anything they wanted to perform as long as they could find a copy of the script. Students chose scenes from everything from _Ugly Betty_ to _Star Trek. _

Sandi AKA the girl she caught on the roof at the welcome back dance, with her two partners performed a scene from the episode _Lovers Walk_ from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_. The fashion obsessed fake friends that Sharpay had in high school would fall out of their seats if they saw Anita's Betty costume.

"I grew up watching Star Trek. I don't remember there being that much 'tension' between Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk. At least not that type of tension. " Jack said to Sharpay as Cory Huntsman and Shawn Matthews walked off the stage after performing a scene from TOS. She could hear Ryan snickering at this comment.

"This is coming from the man who did certain things with Chad's mother AKA your best friend in my pool house over Thanksgiving. Friends being more than friends shouldn't surprise you." Sharpay said in exasperation.

"I'm not responding to that. I can't believe Ms Darbus let you guys do this sort of stuff. "Jack said to her.

"Because the principle always over censored the school productions Ms Darbus would always let us go a little bit wild with our finals pieces. The Drama III class has the lease restrictions. Kim's class actually performed the entire episode/musical _Once More, with Feeling_ for their Drama III exam." Sharpay said as she marked down her grades for the last performance.

"Up next we have Tiara Gold performing a scene from the film _Singing in the Halls_." Ms. Ortega announced from behind.

"I thought the pieces were supposed to be performed with at least two people?" Ryan asked his sister.

"They are. However, nobody would work with Tiara. Ms Darbus gave her special permission to work alone. Why do you think Sandi had a Spike and an Angel to work with?" Sharpay said as she picked up the script for this performance.

"I'm surprised that never happened to you. You were the bitch of the drama department." Sharpay heard Kelsey say the last sentence under her breath. Sharpay took a deep breath to steady herself until the performance was over. She didn't have the energy to deal with Kelsey at the moment.

Finally the bell rang and the morning torture session was over. She walked over to Jack and Ms. Ortega to hand them the results from this morning's performances. The real reason she did so quickly was she was 30 seconds from shoving her designer shoe into Kelsey skull.

"Here are the grades from the last group of students. Cory and Shawn did the best followed by Sandi's Group. I gave Anita extra points for the costume, but Rachel did not pull off Amanda Tanned Somers at all. I would suggest Tiara repeat this class next year but if Ms Darbus does return, I don't wanna put her through that torture. For someone who spent two years at a performing arts school, she has a lot to learn. These 3 hours have made me completely rule out the possibility of becoming an education major." Sharpay told the two teachers as she took the empty seat next to them.

"I thought you already decided you are to be a Broadway actor. That's always been your dream/delusion." Kelsey said snidely from the front.

"I wasn't talking to you." Sharpay said with an eye roll. "If you were still talking to my brother instead of ignoring him or shouting at him because of perceived infidelities you would know I'm not an acting major anymore. I love being onstage. I just don't want to do it for the rest of my life."

"Maybe you just finally realized you don't have the talent for it. Gabriella was so much better than you at just about everything." Kelsey said with smugness that Sharpay never saw from her before. Maybe Kelsey grew a spine in college. However, considering the cowardly way she broke up with Ryan Sharpay severely doubted it. If she didn't promise Troy that she would keep quiet about the Gabriella mental illness thing she would say something about how Gabriella's acting skills were cultivated by her trying to act like Miss Mary sunshine all the time.

She actually felt Jack and her brother holding her back from hurting Kelsey. Fortunately, Ms. Ortega step in before anything bad happened.

"Kelsey, why don't I walk you to your car. I am on Lunch at the moment. You do not need to be back here until 2:00 for the afternoon class." Ms. Ortega said essentially pushing Kelsey out of the auditorium

"Seriously what did you see in her?" Sharpay said out loud as soon as Kelsey was out of the room.

"I'm thinking it was a temporary lapse of good judgment." Ryan said to his sister.

"Are you gonna be able to work with her this afternoon." Jack said to the two of them in concern.

"Not really but I don't have a choice." Sharpay said with an angry sigh.

"If you can find someone else that is qualified to do the grading I will personally ask Kelsey not to come tomorrow." Jack told Sharpay quietly.

"This wouldn't be happening if Kim was here. Excuse me while I go yell at your future daughter in law. I would call your future stepson to complain but he's on an airplane at this point."

**The Present**

"I'm sorry I was not here when you called. I think we were already on the plane to the game. Although I've might've been chasing Alex around the hotel room. I'm not sure anymore." Kim said to his girlfriend.

"That's okay,"

"Do you really have to keep making all the future stepfather jokes?" Chad asked his girlfriend. The joke was starting to get a little old.

"I told you earlier I like making you squirm." Sharpay said to him.

"I do the exact same thing with Troy. I am currently teaching Alex how the call your mom grandma. You do realize that you and Troy will probably be steps siblings within six months of the divorce being finalized." Kim said to them. That thought made him uncomfortable and happy at the exact same time.

"Probably. Why couldn't they have done this when we were still in high school?"

"No ideal. As much fun as I'm having with you guys talking about how we're all going to end up related someday. However, my boyfriend just walked in and my toddler is asleep. I'll talk to you in the morning if I regain consciousness before noon." With that Kim disconnected from the call.

"Just for that we're putting her and Troy in the same suite as Ryan and Taylor when we go to DC next month. The two couples can compete to see who's louder." Chad said with a laugh.

"Speaking of DC, your mom called me at lunch today."

"Why did she call? I thought you guys worked out all the inauguration trip details already? Seriously, how did you get that many tickets? On the other hand, is she calling about her Christmas plants?"

"The inauguration trip stuff is already handled. We were able to get that many tickets because Kim and I are well connected. She mostly called to see we are upholding the rules of the challenge. She agreed to me staying here after I explained everything." Chad was surprise that Sharpay told his mom everything. "Now she's looking into if I can still press charges against Richard. She mostly called to make sure I wasn't actually going to kill Kelsey this afternoon. Apparently your future stepfather was worried."

"I will let that once slide because I love you. Did you find a suitable replacement?"

"Yes but it only cost me my soul and my roommate."

**December 18, 2008 3:15 PM**

Sharpay was going to kill her brother and his ex girlfriend. She was so desperate that she asked Penelope if she would fill in. Despite the temporary truce, the situation must be bad if she was volunteering to spend all day tomorrow with Penelope.

The afternoon was going better than the morning performances. That may be because this is her class and they were used to working with her. To keep her and Ryan from reaching over to strangle Kelsey during the performances Ms. Ortega was sitting between them. So far the bickering stayed down to a minimum.

"Okay up next are Jackie and Jimmy Who will be performing a scene from _Love the Musical."_ Sharpay said as she pulled out the scripts for that scene as she continued to ignore everything else. This is the last performance for the day thankfully. Unfortunately she had to come back tonight for the talent show. She was beginning to wonder why she wanted so much control over the drama club in high school.

This time Ms. Ortega's class was sitting in the back watching the performances. Poor Jason and Kerri had to sit through this twice. She could see Kerri smiling the moment Jimmy got on stage.

"Do you love her?" Jackie asked Jimmy as the character Rebecca.

"It does not matter who I love. It doesn't concern anybody but me. Why should you care?" Jimmy said to her in response.

"I've always cared. You were too blind to see it before." Jackie spat back and bitterness. Her performance was so good Sharpay almost thought it was real.

"I saw it perfectly well. I've always known that you were in love with me. But I'm not in love with you. You're my best friend. I love you as a friend but it's never gonna go beyond that. I can't see you as my lover." Jimmy stare looked so cold at that moment.

"No because you love Kerri. I know she's been in your bed." That was the wrong name. She was supposed to say the name Christina. The only indication that Jimmy picked up on the slip was the look in his eyes. He continued with his lines as planned except he switched the name. Sharpay was probably the only one who knew the slip was deliberate. This was not good.

"Kerri is just a friend." Jimmy said looking Jackie directly in the eyes.

"No she's not. I saw you kissing her. Last Friday night when you were supposed to be with me, I saw you kissing her." Jackie screamed at him.

"Those aren't the original lines." Sharpay heard Ryan whisper as the scene continued. Sharpay turned around to see Kerri sinking down in her seat. They both knew this was no longer a performance.

"I do not know what you're talking about." Jimmy said reciting his line from the actual script. Strangely enough, it was probably the truth.

"Oh stopped the act. Stop pretending. I know exactly what's going on. I know you're fucking my so-called best friend." When the F word fell from Jackie's mouth Sharpay was just happy the principle wasn't there to see it. Sharp language was only allowed in the Drama III performances.

"They are not acting anymore are they?" Jack whisper to Sharpay from behind. He was probably the only one beside her that knew of the real relationship between Jimmy and Kerri.

"No they're not." Sharpay said in a whisper turning back to the stage.

"You're right I do care about Kerri. However we're not sleeping together." Jimmy said that last part out with true anger.

"Don't lie to me. I saw you in her sneak into the janitor's closet Tuesday. Did she do a good job sucking your cock? Was she as good as your boyfriend? According to the rumor mill my so-called best friend is really good at that. That's the only thing I can think of that would make you choose her over me."

"We got to get her off the stage." Kelsey said in a whisper as she finally caught on to what was going on.

"Let the scene run its course." Ms. Ortega said to the other three.

"She's about to out him in front of the entire school." Kelsey's said in horror.

"We are the only ones that know it's gone off script." Sharpay said in a whisper.

"Don't look so shocked. I knew all about Marc. I saw you with him. I saw you with her. I loved you but you didn't care. You're such a prick." Jackie said as she slapped him across the face and ran off the stage. The students were all clapping except for Kerri and Jason who knew what they just saw was real. Kelsey instantly went to follow her.

"Don't follow me Kelsey. I don't need your fake concern now. Ice cream can't cure this." Jackie practically yelled at her sister as she marched off angrily. "I will go get her. Sharpay you're in charge of the class." With that Ms. Ortega left the room.

**The present**

"How did she find out?" Chad said in shock as Sharpay told him of the entire incident this afternoon.

"Do you remember during the summer of 2007 how I tried to win the talent show?" Sharpay asked him. He had no idea how this related to the current situation.

"Let's see you essentially bribed Troy with Italian shoes to sing with you, stole a song that Kelsey wrote for someone else, and purposely eliminated your real competition. Did I mention how happy I am that we are now on the same side?" The way his girlfriend's mind worked scared him sometimes.

"My evil schemes only work now because I have you. Any way Tiara wanted to win the talent competition by any means necessary. Of all the people performing, who was most likely to win before today's events?"

"It would have been Jimmy and Jackie. Jackie said Kelsey was writing her a song specifically for the competition."

"We both know that and so did Tierra. For some reason even though she was a junior, she was at the dance last Friday. She saw Jimmy and Kerri sneak off to the gym Friday night. She convinced Jackie to go into the gym to see him make out with her best friend. Tiara also convinced Jackie to keep quiet until today."

"This would effectively eliminate her competition." Chad said answering her unspoken question.

"Exactly. It went better than Tiara planned because Jackie got suspended for her little stunt this afternoon. Even if they kissed and made up right after, Jackie wouldn't be allowed to stay in the show."

"Please tell me Tiara didn't win."

"As we've all known since the beginning Jimmie Zara is no Troy Bolton. When Tiara asked him to sing with her he told her, and I quote "fuck off."

"Our little Jimmy is growing up." Chad said mockingly. "So how exactly did Tiara not win?"

"Other than having no singing voice whatsoever, it turns out that Tiara forgot that Kerri can sing."

"The golden couple won the competition and the evil villain was taught a valuable lesson. This all resulted in you handing out a trophy to the winner."

"If only things could be that simple. The big difference is I actually learned my lesson. Don't roll your eyes at me Chad Danforth. Tiara is just going to try this again next semester."

"You try the same thing again next semester." Chad pointed out to her.

"Because Kelsey set me up. She could have just told me she didn't want to do the one woman show. Instead she does her normal passive aggressive thing and enlisted Gabriella sunshine to help. I hope the new drug combo will make Gabriella less perky." Sharpay said in her defense.

"So things are not going to end with a Disney happy ending."

"Things are never that simple. You and Troy were on speaking terms again by the time the talent show happened that summer. However, everyone else snubbed me for a good six months. Kelsey and I have never been friends. Kerri is so mad about Jackie's little performance that there's no way they're going to be able to be in the same room together any time soon. Jackie is still upset because Kerri got the guy. Finally Jimmy's upset because his best friend is no longer talking to him. There's also the fact that the entire school now knows that he had a boyfriend at some point. I thought I was done with high school drama when I graduated high school." Sharpay said with an annoyed sigh.

"That's what happens when you spend so much time around high school students."

"I would agree with you if it wasn't for the fact that my brother and his ex are the ones being the least mature. Their reaction is pure high school."

"High school never ends."

"Does this mean you're going to start singing that song?

"No, but you know it's true. No matter how much we grow up we are still going to have to deal with petty jealousy and people who judges us before they know us. The only difference is we get to change clicks.

"Thank god for small favors. So are you sleeping now?"

"Not yet. Can we have phone sex now?" he asked her as a joke.

"Not going to happen. You may not be tired yet, but I am."

"Go to sleep. Love you."

"Love you too."

**A/N: I'm a firm believer that Ryan was actually hitting on Chad during the _I Don't Dance_ sequence from HSMII. I only got that DVD for that sequence. I decided to write my own crazy interpretation of those events in this chapter.**

**I've been reading way too much Star Trek 2009 fanfiction lately. I just had to throw that little joke in there.**

**.**


	28. The Honeymoon Is Over

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This is the beginning of semester two.

Sorry this chapter took forever. I encountered severe writer's depression again. I think this was the most difficult chapter to write since chapter seven. I've rewritten this chapter at least 10 times.

There's also the fact that I caught some sort of virus that impacted my ability to dictate to the computer. I was under doctor's orders not to dictate (write anything) for a few days.

* * *

**Chapter 28: The Honeymoon Is Over**

**January 6, 2009 3:50 AM.**

Sharpay couldn't sleep. She never could when he wasn't with her. They've been together for less than six months and she couldn't deal with being away from him. She wondered what her therapist would say about this when they show up for their couple session tomorrow.

On away game days, she usually averaged about 3 hours asleep. At some point during the night she would have one of those nightmares and would be unable to return to sleep. If she had one of these nightmares when Chad was with her she would go back to sleep as soon as she felt his soothing touch. She never told him that.

For the second night in a row, she couldn't sleep. She was too stressed to sleep. It probably did not help that her new roommate snored badly. The earplugs didn't work and she was already told she couldn't suffocate the girl in question with a pillow. Stupid new roommate and stupid RA enforcing stupid policies.

Tonight she managed a grand total of two hours and three minutes of sleep. On the first night she got two hours and twenty-seven minutes. Due to yesterday's little surprise it was even harder to sleep tonight. She doubted she would survive this semester if things continue like this. She was almost desperate enough to ask her Dr. For sleeping pills tomorrow.

She waited in bed for another 10 minutes just thinking about the last three weeks and the hell that was the first day of the second semester. She absolutely hated that A of U had one of the shortest winter breaks of any college in the country. The only saving factor was their school year ended early. In contrast, her brother would not be leaving for NYC until Saturday and Troy is only going back to Berkeley today because he has a game tonight.

At the time she hated being with Chad in that tiny little apartment with the bad furniture and the bugs that couldn't be killed. Now she wished she could go back because at least they were together.

At 4:07 AM Sharpay gave up on trying to sleep. She would turn on her computer to surf the Internet if she didn't think her new roommate would get mad since her first class was not until eight. Chad made her promise not to antagonize the girl in the other bed, but it was so much fun.

They were trying very hard not to kill each other but it wasn't going so well. They were working with the old adage the enemy of my enemy is my friend. They were trying to put the past away, but it wasn't quite working.

She was not planning on actually sharing a room with this woman but things never go as planned in the life of Sharpay Evans. She blamed the schools ridiculous policies and her father.

Last semester she and Chad could have stayed at the mansion but that was no longer an option. On the day after Christmas her father told her and Ryan that instead of the mansion being sold to another family, it was being bulldozed and the estate was being redeveloped. They started demolition on her birthday. Ryan and Taylor had the misfortune of the spending the rest of break at her (adopted) parents' house.

Sharpay quietly got out of bed, grabbed her laptop, and headed out to the common room. She saw her boyfriend reading his textbook for Calculus C. Chad studying before 5:00 AM was never a good sign.

"You did not sleep last night?" she asked sitting next to him on the couch. He quickly put an arm around her and kissed her on the forehead.

"Not really. I think my theory about not being able to sleep at away games due to postgame adrenaline is wrong. How much sleep did you get last night?" He asked her as he tightened their embrace.

"Just enough to function." He looked at her as if he knew she was lying, but he did not caller on it.

"How's your new roommate?" She asked changing the subject.

"We're still in the honeymoon stage. Although maybe it helps that we already know each other. He also knows that if he makes any more stupid jokes about our sex life I will hurt him." Sharpay laughs a little at that comment.

"So far this semester I haven't caught him having sex with his significant other on top of my desk. He doesn't blast opera at 5:00 AM. He doesn't leave his underwear in the middle of the floor.. He's not a nudist thankfully. Let's be honest, you are the only one I want to see naked. Unlike Amanda or Kim he didn't ask us if we consummated our relationship in aspen on our birthday. Considering its him I'm actually surprised." Chad said that last part with a laugh.

"I'm shocked. This is Marc we are talking about. This is the same guy who made jokes about me going down on a Popsicle in the middle of the cafeteria."

"I think he's finally scared of you. I think the most positive thing about Marc being my roommate is he doesn't snore. It is really too early to tell." Chad said as he started stroking her hair.

"The honeymoon is definitely over for me and her. One would think she could listen to her music wearing headphones, but no she can't. How can anybody study with rap music blaring? I can't believe she got a 3.75 last semester and I only got a 3.5."

"You are so cute when you're jealous," Chad said with a cute little smile.

"Trust me, I'm not jealous of her. Did I tell you we got into a fight yesterday over who should use the bathroom first. She can't stop snoring. Last night she ate one of my whole wheat organic Pop Tarts without asking. " Chad was laughing hysterically at this point. It got worse during the Pop Tarts comment. She had the sudden urge to throw a pillow at him, but she stopped herself because that would mean leaving his arms.

"Now I know all the bitchiness in high school was caused by sleep deprivation." That comment definitely got him the pillow. "You're going to have to tell me the story of how you ended up with Penelope as a roommate. How the hell did that happen?"

"It was a mixture of guilt, desperation, and stupidity. The only way I could get Penelope to take Kelsey is place in greeting the midterms at EHS was too switch rooms with her. I assumed that because I was able to spend all of last semester living in your dorm room, I would be able to do it this semester. How was I supposed to know that Richard had an uncle on the Board of Directors that now had a grudge for me?"

Sharpay knew the enforcement of rules that were looked over last year was some weird sort of punishment. After yesterday's conversation with her father and Lisa she knew that they would have to go along with it for now.

"Why can't our school allow opposite sex roommates?" Chad asked his girlfriend kissing her on the forehead.

"Because when another school tried it recently the local papers depicted it as allowing students to live in sin. Parents don't want to send their children to a school where something like that could happen."

"I think that argument is completely ridiculous because theoretically I could be involved with my current roommate. Although, I'm not his type."

"You're seriously going to have to tell me how you ended up with Marc as a roommate. I thought you were still pissed at him because of the bet thing."

"It was our brilliant scheme to get around the stupid rule. Although when we came up with this plan we were under the impression that Amanda was still your roommate. We assumed that you and Marc could just switch rooms and nobody would know what was going on. To be honest you're the only person I can actually tolerate living with."

"I think you have to be able to live with your soul mate otherwise you'll end up killing them for leaving the toilet seat up." Sharpay said with a laugh.

"It was one time. I said I was sorry."

**January 4, 2009 9:35 PM**

From the fact that the flyers for the section meeting were in black and white instead of purple and pink Sharpay knew something was wrong. Their last RA was very into glitter and sequence. She reminded Sharpay a lot of Elle Woods from the _Legally Blonde_ films. Sharpay absolutely loved her because she looked the other way when Sharpay spent the night with Chad.

Technically no life form higher than a fish could live in a dorm room unless they were assigned to that room. Although upperclassmen (like Chad) were allowed to have overnight guests of the opposite sex, freshmen (such as Sharpay) were not. Freshmen (students with less than 30 credit hours) were not allowed to stay overnight in the rooms of other students. Sharpay was breaking that rule for most of last semester.

Due to unfortunate circumstances Crystal wasn't there RA anymore. After the incident with Penelope their RA from last semester was moved to another building.

From her reputation, Jade Perez was scary. Her opening remarks to their floor proved that. She did not even do an icebreaker before getting straight to the uncomfortable part of the meeting.

"Let's get one thing straight. I'm not your last RA. I'm here to actually enforce the rules. The last RA let you get away with a lot of things that I will not. Rules exist for a reason." Jade stated bluntly without making eye contact with anybody in the room.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Amanda whispered to Sharpay.

"A lot of things happened in this building last semester that were completely unacceptable. We had an unescorted guest who demolished two dorm rooms and cause serious damage to the community room." Sharpay was about to point out that Taylor was escorted when she caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to the building and Sharpay's personal property. However, she didn't see the point. she doubted it would make a difference to Jade. She just didn't seem like a reasonable person.

"We also had another student who engaged in inappropriate sexual activities in almost every space on this floor." Sharpay heard Chad's next door neighbor William whisper, "At least you didn't have to listen to it for six weeks." Everyone tried not to laugh at that.

"I walked in on them having sex in the shower three times. I am spraying down his entire side of the room with Clorox before I sleep on his old bed." Marc said with a shudder but Jade just carried on.

"There have been reports of students cohabiting with members of the opposite sex." Ms. Perez looked directly at Sharpay when she said that. "The school does not allow students of the opposite sex to live together except those who qualify for married student housing."

"You might as well say the school has a policy against students living in sin. Although is it really living in sin if they haven't slept together yet?" Marc said under his breath causing Chad to give him a dirty look. Sharpay had a feeling that Chad was going to kill his new roommate by the end of the week.

"There are strict rules on the book that forbade such actions. All students will live with their assigned roommates." This is the last thing Sharpay remembered as everything faded.

**January 5, 2009 7:53 AM. **

As Chad walked into his first class of the day, he wondered why he decided to take physics first thing in the morning. This was probably just as bad as taking calculus in the morning last semester. He didn't really have a choice because the other session was offered right during basketball practice.

In the future, he would have to remember not to schedule any classes involving formulas before 10:00 AM. If it wasn't for his ability to learn anything by reading the textbook, he would be completely screwed.

Due to their OCD RA, he seriously doubted he would be missing class this semester because he got too caught up with Sharpay. Jade the evil one actually yelled at him this morning for cuddling on the couch with Sharpay in the community room. It was obvious she was singling them out. Sharpay scheduled an emergency meeting with Lisa this morning to see if there was any way around the regulation.

Chad read through the regulations himself last night. He couldn't find any way out of it until they were married or if Students for Equality were successful in getting the rule changed this semester. If they decided to stay at A of U next year they would be getting an apartment anyway. They could not get an apartment now because first year students were required to live on campus, except for commuter students. He and Sharpay no longer qualified as commuter students because their parents no longer had residency in Albuquerque.

Chad knew he would have to deal with the whole housing situation when he met Sharpay for lunch. Lunch will be the only time he would see her during the day. On Mondays and Wednesdays this semester he didn't have any classes with Sharpay.

After his daily physics class at 8:00 AM he had Calculus C at 9:00 AM on everyday but Tuesday. On Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:00 AM in a building across campus from the math department, he had Intro to Acting. The only reason he was even taking a acting class this semester was because Sharpay was originally going to take it with him. Now that she's not an acting major there was no point. However, he still needed to take the class for his art credit.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he had Intro to Women's Studies, his only class with Sharpay this semester.

After a noon lunch with Sharpay he had organic chemistry. His advisers said something about this being a suicide schedule, but Chad really wasn't paying attention. The lowest grade Chad got last semester was an A- in his film class because he criticized George Lucas in his final essay. Chad could handle a full class load. Once basketball season ended he would have a lot more time to study.

Looking over the classroom, he noticed Kim in the first row. He has not seen her sense the day after Christmas when they drove her and Troy to the Airport to go back to San Francisco for a few days. She was supposed to pick them up at the Airport yesterday but Ryan and Taylor came to pick them up instead.

"Why are you taking physics?" Chad asked he took a seat next to her.

"You know you can at least say hi." Kim said in her usual sarcastic mode.

"Why should I? You don't. I'm more interested in finding out why you're taking an advanced physics class."

"Education majors are required to take one physics class." Kim said nonchalantly as she pulled out her laptop.

"Education majors usually take the easy physics class." Kim just laughed at him. Like there is such a thing as an easy physics class.

"All the sessions of the "easy physics class" conflict with my schedule. Because I am minoring in mathematics, I have taken the prerequisites for this class. They are allowing me to substitute the harder physics class. I have a headache just thinking about it."

"How is my favorite nephew doing?"

"Enjoying his last day of father son bonding before Troy has to fly back tomorrow and he begins daycare. I have no idea how we're going to keep this up for a year." Chad didn't know either. Chad could barely make it through an away game without Sharpay. He didn't know if he could take Kim and Troy's current situation. He quickly put an arm around Kim to comfort her.

"It will be okay. Troy will be back next Thursday for the Berkeley vs. A of U game and then you'll be with him in DC for the inauguration."

"That game is going to be so much fun." Kim said with a tiny smile.

"Best friends now rivals playing against each other, it will be the game of the year. I'm going to have so much fun when I kick your boyfriend's ass on the court." Chad said this while smiling.

"Like that's going to happen. Speaking of old high school friends, guess who's transferring to A of U this semester?"

**January 2, 2009 6:23 PM**.

Kim sat inside the Ruby Friday's by the A of U campus after arriving back to New Mexico 2 hours earlier. The best part of Kim's time in San Francisco was being with Troy for three weeks. For once it felt like they were a real family even if it was short lived

The worst part, other than the Gabriella situation, was trying to find the house. They finally decided on a four-bedroom townhouse near campus complete with backyard. They would need the backyard because Alex inherited Sharpay's dog. Kim had no idea how her best friend talked her into taking her dog for the rest of the school year. One thing was for sure Alex would not give that puppy back at the end of the year.

Despite the fun she had on vacation she was happy to be back. She just wished Troy could stay with her. He would be leaving in a few days no matter what.

She somehow managed to convince her stepsister and stepmom to come get her, Alex, and Troy from the Airport together. After three weeks of being in the same city, Taylor was on speaking terms with her biological mom. Ryan made some excuse about there not being enough room in the car if he came. Kim personally thought Ryan was being a coward because he could have met them at the restaurant like Jack.

Ryan had nothing to worry about. The dinner was amicable if a little tense. It probably helped that Kim's father was away on business. Jay Kim still wanted to beat the hell out of the guy who got his little girl pregnant. Kim felt sorry for her new little sister who would have to deal with the wrath of their father.

"Has anybody heard from the happy couple?" Taylor asked as she popped one of the Buffalo wing appetizers in her mouth.

"Not since they got to the resort Wednesday. If Chad got the birthday present he was supposed to get, you won't hear anything from them until they got to the Airport tomorrow." Kim said as she placed some boneless buffalo wings on Alex's plate. Her almost father in law started choking on his water at that point.

"I still can't believe that Chad's mom and Sharpay's dad got Chad and Sharpay four days in aspen for their birthday." Vanessa stated in shock.

"Caroline is doing this to prove that she's okay with their relationship." Jack said trying to justify his girlfriend's actions.

"Considering the fact that she was two years younger than Chad is now when he was conceived she doesn't really have room to talk. Being a hypocrite does not look good on anyone. We're going to have the same problem?" Kim says looking at Troy. Technically Troy was a year younger than Caroline was when they conceived Alex.

"Essentially yes," Troy said from beside her.

"As for Sharpay's father, it was probably a guilt gift. This is the type of thing Mr. Evans has been doing sense Sharpay and Ryan were little children. Forget Sharpay's sixth birthday, by Sharpay her first puppy. Forget to come to Ryan's little league game, treat the entire team to a special meeting with the New York Yankees. Completely ignore the signs that your wife was beating the hell out of your daughter for years, give your future son in law $300,000 to buy an engagement ring. Although the custom made Tiffany engagement ring made a excellent Christmas present." Sarcasm dripped off Kim's voice as she spoke.

"Vince needs to be careful with gifts like that. I doubt the NCAA will be happy." Vanessa said cryptically to the others at the table.

"I doubt that they can infer favoritism because Vince offered to pay for Chad to go to college anywhere in the country if Sharpay decides to go somewhere else next year." Taylor told everyone else at the table. Kim was the most shock because she knew all about Sharpay's dad forcing her to go to A of U.

She never got to ask for clarification because her boyfriend was in a guy hug with the number four person on her hate list. He was right behind her mother, Troy's mother, and Richard. He seems so cocky to Kim in that moment, acting as if nothing changed. He was there chatting with his old friend and his basketball coach.

Troy's acting skills kicked in instantly and he was able to fake civil behavior. She did enjoy Zeke's reaction when Troy introduced her as his wife. (It was easier to introduce her as his wife then to explain the crazy situation.)

"What happen to Gabriella? You were completely in love with her in high school."

"No I wasn't," was all Troy said before Zeke started talking to his dad.

Jack also did pretty well faking pleasantness. He had years of practice dealing with students that he didn't like that well.

Unfortunately, Taylor needed more time in anger management. She went off completely when Zeke said something about the Taylor/Chad situation. Just because her and Chad are now friends didn't mean the issue was not still raw in some ways.

"First of all you broke up with her. You have no right to be pissed off that she moved on to someone else. Unlike you, he actually loves her. You were the one who was _fucking_ Penelope behind her back. Don't act like you were the innocent party." Taylor said in full out bitch mode. Kim personally thought he was more shocked to hear Taylor say a curse word.

"You know about that? How do you know about that? I would think you and Chad were not even on speaking terms after he started fucking someone else behind your back?" This is not the type of conversation she wanted to have in front of her child at a family restaurant. She's pretty sure she sees Troy cover Alex's ears every time the F word is used.

"Chad and I are still friends. I'm even friends with Sharpay now. How that happened, I am not sure. Most importantly a couple weeks ago I had lunch with your real ex girlfriend. You know the cheerleader from West High that you did for three years but didn't want anybody to find out about. Sharpay and Penelope are both ready to tear your dick off for your little stunt. My suggestion is for you to go back to Chicago before your ex girlfriends decide to castrate you with a dull butter knife." Kim hasn't seen Taylor this angry since she saw the video of Taylor taking a baseball bat to Sharpay's television.

"That's going to be hard considering I'm going to A of U next semester." That caused Kim to drop her glass off the table.

**January 5, 2008 9 10:01 AM.**

Amanda was already overstressed for the new semester and the only class she had so far was Chemistry 152. The classes were not the only thing stressing her out this semester. Sharpay and Penelope were both pissed at her because of the room situation. It was not her fault. How was she supposed to know they would get and RA who would enforce the rules? In addition, Marc and Chad didn't consult her about their little plan. She was really mad at Marc for that. This additional stress was added on top of her job, classes, and cheerleading.

Although the thing stressing her out the most was her GPA. Amanda was only able to get a 2.73 GPA last semester. For her scholarship she must maintain a 3.0. If she doesn't bring Up her GPA she's going to lose her scholarship.

These thoughts have been going through Amanda's head as she sat in the classroom for Intro to Acting 115. Sharpay talked her and Chad into taking this class with her this semester. Now Sharpay was not in the class. At least she would have Chad to partner with. As she was thinking that thought Chad walked through the door of the classroom.

"Shouldn't you be out of breath after running from the math building?" Amanda asked him as he sits next to her.

"The only thing we did in calculus today was received the syllabus. That doesn't even make sense because everybody in that class already has the text book. I would've been here earlier but I needed to talk to Sharpay about something. I tried to catch up with her after her meeting with Lisa, but I missed her by 5 minutes. Apparently the meeting went really badly and Sharpay managed to crack the glass in one of the doors when she was leaving." That was not a good sign.

"Couldn't you just text message her? Unless you were trying to find her for a quickie in one of the supply closets," Chad was giving her the look of death.

"That will not be happening anytime soon, especially in any place that could have a camera. Some conversations are not text message appropriate." Chad said keeping something back from her.

"I'm assuming that from your anger you didn't get your original birthday present?" Chad's mouth went completely wide at that comment. Somehow Kim manage to convince Sharpay to sleep with Chad for his 18th birthday. Judging by the sexual tension that remains, that didn't happen. "Did everybody know that Sharpay was planning on poppy my metaphorical cherry for my 18th birthday?" Chad said in a pissed off whisper that only she could hear. "She back out at the last minute? You're too tense for someone who actually got laid. If you are at that point in the relationship I really don't want to know. I'm also thankful I am no longer Sharpay's roommate. It was bad enough walking in on you going down on her."

"The situation is complicated. I don't want to talk about being the first person to stay in the honeymoon suite at Snow Gardens and not have sex. Not have traditional sex any way. " She would have pushed, but she heard yelling from outside the classroom.

"What the hell are you doing here?" They both heard Penelope scream at the top of her lungs.

"The same thing you are, attending classes." Even though she only heard the voice once before during the altercation before thanksgiving she recognized it instantly. It probably helped that Chad broke his pencil as soon as he heard the voice.

"So that's why you are looking for Sharpay this morning."

**January 5, 2009 10:05 AM.**

Technically Sharpay did not have class until 10:00 AM this semester. Usually her day started at 7:30 AM where she would be the teaching assistant for Dramatic Writing with her future father in law. She would then come back to campus for 10:00 AM class. On Mondays and Wednesdays she had U.S. Women's history 1880 to the present with Marc.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she had intro the women's studies during the same block. It was the only class she had with Chad. At 12PM she had lunch which she managed to schedule at the same time as her boyfriend.

At 1:00 PM she had intro to business. She practically grew up at her dad's company. Intro the business seemed a bit redundant. On Mondays and Wednesdays she had Creative Writing 315 from 3 to 5. On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday she had economics.

Because Sharpay was free this morning she decided to talk to Lisa about the Jade situation. As everything else in Sharpay's life the situation was political. Richards uncle Roger Windom was also on the Board Of Directors for A of U. That was why her dad couldn't keep Richard out of the school or get him removed from her class last semester. Uncle Roger was pissed off at her and Penelope for destroying his nephew's reputation and getting him expelled from the university. The RA from hell was just the beginning of the wrath of Roger. She, Chad, and Penelope would be under a microscope for the rest of their time at the school. Lisa's hands were tied because her contract is up for review at the end of this semester.

Sharpay walked into her 10:00 AM class yelling at her dad who was presently working out some development deal in London. The conversation wasn't going good. Her father couldn't intervene because of a new policy being considered by the board to allow opposite sex pairings in dorm rooms. If he decides to go against the policy and people find out that his daughter is living with her boyfriend in the dorms it would look bad.

"So basically you want me to be your puppet just like always? You want me to smile for the cameras, okay. Dad there's not a guilt gift in the world that will make up for this." Sharpay didn't even bother saying goodbye to her father as she hung up her phone.

"I see things are going well with your father." Marc said to her as she took a seat next to him.

"As usual my dad goes back on his promises. Once again he needs me to play happy family to advance his career. This time he's bringing Chad along for the unpleasant ride." Sharpay said in anger.

"Because you're now engaged, Chad is part of your family. By the way let me see the new ring?" Sharpay instantly waved her custom made Tiffany engagement ring in front of his face.

"My roommate has taste." Marc said looking at the beautiful ring.

"If not common sense," Sharpay said angrily.

"He wanted the exchange to be a surprise." Marc said in chad's defense.

"It was a great surprise." Sharpay said sarcastically.

"If you want I can disappear for a couple of hours today?" it almost seemed like he was giving her a peace offering.

"I'm not going to kick you out of your own dorm room. Besides Jade will probably inspect the room with a black light. She'll probably enforce that silly rule about not having sex in the dorm rooms if you have a roommate."

In the last 24 hours she's undergone a crash course on A of U policies on student housing and cohabitation. She doesn't even want to have sex with her boyfriend in the dorms; she just wants to be able to cuddle.

"Okay now I know there's a double standard going on. Nobody enforces these ridiculous policies. Blaze was screwing his girlfriend in the common room. He kicked Chad out all the time just so he could have sex."

"You are a political science major, haven't you figured out by now that everything is political."

**January 5, 2009 10:45 AM**

He should've ran the other way as soon as he saw Zeke enter the room. Instead, he sent a quick e-mail to his mom asking her to look in to the restraining order. He was pretty sure having a class with Zeke was a violation.

He was just glad Sharpay was not taking this class anymore. Dealing with Penelope was bad enough. He and Amanda actually had to physically restrain her for the first part of class. Because it's an acting class the professor didn't ask questions.

Sharpay's old advisor Sarah Long was actually teaching the class. She spent the first 15 minutes going over the syllabus and the web site where the materials for the class will be housed. She didn't see a point of students paying $80.00 for a book that they would only use three chapters from. After spending $250 on his Physics book and $200 on his Organic Chemistry book he was happy for any relief.

They were currently going around the room doing an introduction exercise.

"Hi my name is Amanda Summers. Yes I realize my name is really close to the name of a character on Ugly Betty. Thankfully it spelled different, but at least I have the same name as a fun character. I'm originally from some tiny town in Arizona. I ended up at A of U because this school has a better program for students with disabilities and I got a scholarship."

"Have you ever had any acting experience before?" the professor asked from the sidelines

"I'm a cheerleader so we perform all the time. In high school we sometimes did skits but that's about it. My former roommate talked me into taking this class before she decided to switch majors." At this Amanda takes her seat next to Penelope. As soon an she was seated Zeke took the stage.

"My name is Zeke Baylor. I am originally from Albuquerque but just transferred back from the culinary school of Chicago. My parents had the misfortune of investing my college fund in the wrong stocks."

"Have you ever been on stage before?" The professor asked this of him.

"My girlfriend talk to me into doing the senior play last year. That is the only thing I've ever done."

"You're now ex girlfriend." Penelope muttered under her breath.

"Speak up child. This class is about free expression." He was sure the professor will regret that statement very quickly.

"Zeke has a lot of experience in acting or at least in pretending to be something he's not. For example, he pretended that he wasn't dating the head cheerleader at his rivals school for three years. He also walked around playing the role of the nice guy when he was cheating on her with another girl who was completely clueless of the entire situation. Mr. Baylor here is a wonderful actor. He had me and the other woman fooled for three years." Everyone could hear the ice in Penelope's voice.

"I think you're wrong Penelope. He can't hide his expression of surprise."Amanda pointed out with a snicker.

"A real actor has at least a decent poker face." Chad added as he started laughing at Zeke's shocked behavior.

"Enough of that. I assume you're the ex girlfriend?" She asked pointing to Penelope.

"I am Penelope Castro, an education major originally from the Albuquerque area. I starred in every single production at West High for all four years. I'm taking this class because my stupid education advisor wouldn't waive the course requirements. Unfortunately I was stupid enough to date this pathetic excuse for a human being in high school. He dated me and my rival at the same time. Chad here is dating his other high school ex girlfriend."

"No one date Sharpay Evans. They merely pick up her coffee and dry cleaning in hopes that she might put out. Hell will probably freeze over first before the ice queen spreads her legs." Zeke said the words with as much arrogance as possible. Chad feels Amanda place a hand on his shoulder as he gets ready to attack Zeke.

In the back he hears one of his male classmates joke, "You're definitely new on campus or very unfamiliar with You Tube." Chad looks back and sees the guy wearing one of the _Fantasy Girl_ T shirts. The next time he sees Gabriella he's going to kill her no matter what Troy says.

"You're sadly misinformed. Trust me, the entire floor can hear when Sharpay or Chad have an orgasm." The entire class is laughing. Zeke is furious and Chad is repressing the urge run.

"I didn't tell you the best part, they are getting married." Penelope said as she grabbed his hand and showing off Chad simple platinum engagement ring. Chad decided to where the international symbol of "get the fuck away, from me I am taken" after the incident with the high school cheerleader offering him a blow job. Apparently Tiffanys does carry engagement rings for men if you pay enough money. He and Sharpay have a matching set.

Zeke breaks his pencil and Chad stands up to introduce himself to the class. His fellow classmates make the situation better or worse by mentioning the sex tape incident in glorious details, as well as, the kissing scene at the East High fall production of _The Taming of the Drama Queen_. Chad loves torture early in the morning. It helps get his mind off the fact that Taylor, Troy and Kim waited three days to tell him about this entire debacle.

**January 3, 2009 3:32 PM**

Taylor sat in the cell phone waiting area at the Albuquerque Airport trying to figure out how to tell her boyfriend sister that her ex was moving back to town. She had other things to worry about like staying with her adoptive parents this week as her father terrifies her boyfriend.

"Sharpay is going to go through the roof when she finds out. Chad's going to go through the roof. Chad wants to kill him. Actually, Sharpay wants to kill him." Taylor tells this to her boyfriend.

"I want to kill him. If I was at the restaurant with you yesterday, I would've been booked on assault charges by the end of the evening. However, you have to tell her Taylor." Ryan tells her as he kisses her gently.

"You know she's going to kill the message are."

"Probably," Ryan says as he pulls her head into his lap and begins to stroke her hair. This is a little hard to do with a steering wheel in the way.

"I don't need to tell her anything. She did still my boyfriend. I deserve a little revenge. Kim can just tell her Monday." Ryan starts laughing when she says that. He obviously realized her earlier statement was an excuse.

"That works for me." Ryan said as he kissed his girlfriend again as they see Chad and Sharpay walked to the car.

**January 5, 2009 12:03 PM **

"Are people that afraid of me?" Sharpay asked her boyfriend as they walked to one of the restaurants near the drama building. After seeing Zeke, she didn't feel like going anywhere near the cafeterias.

"Yes" Chad said giving her a chaste kiss on the lips.

"I just can't believe he is actually taking acting classes. This whole thing seems like a setup." A few minutes earlier, she told him all about the trouble with Richard's uncle.

"It seems like a possibility. It seems like the perfect way to get back at both you and Penelope. Fortunately, this morning I was only embarrassed. For two people who haven't had sex our sex life is quite public." Chad said that part with a laugh.

"Whose fault is that?" Sharpay said pointing at him.

"Yours. It's not my fault that you keep molesting me in front of cameras when you're tipsy."

"Please tell me you got the surveillance tape from the elevator at the resort?" Sharpay was seriously trying to repress the entire birthday sex incident.

"You better be happy that the resort has everything on computers and I was able to hack into the system."

"You're still making us see my therapist about the incident?"

"Yes."

**January 1, 2009 7:22 AM**

The winter sun broke through the curtains causing Sharpay to wake up from her uncomfortable sleep. The clock across the room read 7:22 AM. She had no idea what trigger her to wake up this early the morning after her 19th birthday. She woke up to find a bottle of water and Tylenol next to her, but no Chad. He was probably still pissed off after what happened last night. Trying to go down on him in the elevator was a really bad idea.

She had enough alcohol in her system at that point to barely remember unzipping his pants and falling down to her knees. She distinctly remembers him pushing her away. The fact that she woke up alone told her that he was pissed off about what happened.

The suns streaming into the room was making her sick and she walked across the honeymoon suite to close the windows. That was a Mistake and within seconds, she was running to the bathroom.

After emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet she sits down against the marble tiles. The coolness felt good on her over heated skin. At that moment she realizes she is wearing Chad's "69 is my favorite number" T shirt. Considering what happened last night Chad will not be finding out if that statement is true anytime soon.

She felt warm arms go around her as the bottle of water and the Tylenol are pushed into her hands. This is what she needed. He was her ultimate hangover cure. She just needed his touch to make everything feel better.

"Where were you this morning?" She said in a whisper as she swallowed the medication and started slowly drinking her water.

"I thought it would be best if I slept on the couch in the living room area." He said to her as he began to massage her shoulders.

"You were afraid that I was going to molest you again." Bits and pieces of her drunken seduction came into her mind and she hung her head in shame. "We have to be the first couple in history to have the honeymoon suite and sleep in separate beds." Sharpay said leaning back into his touch.

"it's okay. I like being different. We are probably the first couple in the history of this place to have the honeymoon suite and not actually be on our honeymoon. Why did your father get us the honeymoon suite?"

"Kim had the room upgraded to the honeymoon suite. Daddy just got us the regular room and the first class plane tickets. It was his usual guilt gift." Sharpay said with a touch of anger

"I love the snowball fight yesterday. I didn't like last night when you got completely wasted just so you wouldn't be scared to have sex with me. I would like to know where you got the ridiculous idea that you needed to sleep with me last night."

"It was not a stupid idea. Kim suggested it your birthday present on the 26. It was the perfect birthday present." She said in her defense.

"It is not the perfect present, if you are not ready. If you have to drink an entire bottle of champagne to calm yourself down enough to have sex with me you're not ready." She could sense a bit of anger in his voice even though he was forcing himself to stay calm.

"It was a good idea for a present. What one thing can I give you that shows that I love you? The only thing I could give you that will say that is myself."

"I already know that you love me. How many times do I have to tell you, I don't need to be inside you to know? I don't even need the words anymore. I just know." He said this as he kissed her on the forehead.

"I wanted too. We do everything else together. I'm not afraid of your tongue and fingers. Why am I so terrified of your penis?" She asked that question more to herself than him.

"Considering the sounds you make, I know you really enjoy my mouth and fingers. Also I don't think you are that afraid of certain parts of my anatomy. You seem to enjoy bringing me off by wrapping your hand around me enough. You usually don't have to be completely smashed to do a hand job."

"The first time I was." She practically whispered this confession.

"I would've remembered if you were. You have a tendency to throw up when you consume alcohol. I will not do anything with you if you're not 100% in your right mind. I will not even kiss you if you are taking Nyquil." He said that last part as a joke to break the tension.

"You know I don't always throw up when I drink. You've seen me drink a glass or two of wine with dinner before without any reaction. As for the first time on thanksgiving in Troy's room, I drank two glasses of wine before." She could see his shocked expression

"That was not grape juice my mom gave you?" Chad asked her tentatively.

"No, she saw me shaking badly after the showdown with Darby. By that point Amanda already told me about what happened in the pool house. You know how much I hate keeping things from you. I drank just enough wine to take edge off."

"Apparently you drink enough to make you do something you didn't want to." Chad said with a bit of anger.

"Trust me I wanted to touch you like that. I wasn't drunk just buzzed enough not to be scared. The fear was gone and I got so high from your reaction that the fear never came back. I thought if it worked before it would work again."

**January 6, 2009 9:15 AM.**

Sharpay sat in bed working on her writing project for English 315. The class is different from any writing class Sharpay ever heard of before. The class had several crazy projects including alternative history X. This project is basically when you take a moment from history or your own life and rewrite it with a different outcome. Their first assignment was to write a short story where they would change one event in their life. They were supposed to write about how changing that one element changed everything.

There are so many things sharpay would change if she could. After the last few days she decided to do something fluffy. In her story Ms. Darbus decides to have Chad fill in for Troy when he doesn't show up for the senior musical. She kissed him on stage and falls completely in love three months early.

"Can you write anything that doesn't us kissing or having sex in public?" Chad says as he reaches over and powers down her laptop after saving the file.

"I have you know that is an actual class assignment." Sharpay says as she goes in to kiss him.

"You can finish up after you get some sleep. Because our 10:00 is canceled neither of us have class until one. I'm also positive that neither one of us got more than 3 hours asleep in the last three days." Chad says pushing her on the bed and kissing her forehead gently.

"If I wasn't so exhausted I would hurt you."

"Love you too."

**A/N: When I'm feeling better does anybody want to see me write an alternative version of the senior musical where Chad is Troy's understudy instead of Jimmy?**


	29. WTF?

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I live in the DC area, so your reviews will help keep away the cabin fever and encourage me to write tomorrow when I will obviously be snowed-in again.

The good news is I am going to do a rewrite of HSM3. I'm even planning on doing original songs if I can figure out how to write that sort of thing in prose. My question to everybody is should I write that story in the _Scenes From Freshman Year_ universe with all the baggage that includes or should I start from scratch? I'm currently leaning to the same universe but I'm open to suggestions.

It'll probably be sometime in March or April when I upload the first chapter. I also want to finish my new short story The Girl Behind the Mask. If you need more C/S please read that story.

Disclaimer: It is already obvious I don't own HSM. If I did, I doubt my version could be on the Disney Channel. This chapter has a lot of songs written by other people in it. All lyrics are used without permission but with great respect for the artists.

Warning/spoilers: This chapter contains a true college party. There is underage drinking, bad language, and sexual content in this chapter.

**Chapter 29:** **WTF?**

**January 10, 2009 8:33AM**

Vanessa pulled up to her stepdaughter's house a little after 8:30 AM with Alex safely in the backseat. She loved spending time with her grandson. As far as she was concerned, Alex was hers. Jay's first wife had no claim on him. Any woman who would try to murder her grandchild doesn't deserve him. Just like Taylor's sperm donor has no claim on her.

Unfortunately, she has been spending less and less time with Alex these days. Maybe that is why she agreed to keep Alex last night so Kim could actually be a normal college student for one night.

Now that Troy is back in Kim's life it made sense that Kim wouldn't need her or Jay's help as much. There is also the fact that Alex's other grandfather now lived in the house next door.

The lawn of Jack's new house has as many infamous red cups and beer bottles as Kim's does. On Kim's lawn on there is a half naked person spread out on a sleeping bag. She couldn't help but think how stupid somebody could be to do that in January. It looks like Kim's plans for a simple karaoke party between friends fell apart.

Judging by the chaos outside, she doesn't bother knocking. Instead, she uses her key that Kim gave her. Inside the house isn't much better. For some reason she's reminded of the after party scene in the film _16 Candles_.

The first thing she notices is a fist size hole in one of the walls. There is trash everywhere along with Alex's toys. Vanessa notices a decapitated teddy bear sitting on the stairs. At this point she wonders if she should take Alex back to her house or at the very these drop him off at Jack's house.

As she walks into the living room she sees her daughter curled up with Ryan on the longer couch completely unconscious. Even with the lowlight, she could see her daughter's boyfriend had a black eye. Not that Taylor was actually calling Ryan her boyfriend. Taylor's stubbornness must have been genetically inherited from the sperm donor. She refuses to give Taylor's biological father any recognition beyond that. She hoped that Taylor didn't run into the man when she transferred to DC next year.

On the opposite side, sleeping in the love seat laid Kim. As soon as Alex saw his mom, he wiggled out of her arms and walked over to Kim. Within seconds, she was up.

"Okay that's a great way to wake up." Kim says as she hugs her son. Kim quickly got up from the couch and walked over to her through the sea of cups and bottles. Vanessa notices that she was a little wobbly on her feet.

"Is that sleep deprivation or a hangover? I'm going with hangover because you're sleeping in the living room." Vanessa said to her stepdaughter.

"I'm only sleeping in the living room because I'm gonna have to burn my bedroom set after the drunk and stupid did dirty things in my bedroom. This whole thing was an absolute disaster. . I did not get everybody out of here until 4:00 AM. If anybody other than Jack or crazy college students lived next door to me the cops would've been called. Trust me I am sleep deprived not drunk. "

"I'm pretty sure all the crazy college students were here last night." Vanessa says as she points to Kim's very broken coffee table. "What happened last night?"

"It's a very long dysfunctional story. I blame Twitter and my own stupidity. My first mistake was thinking I could have a normal party in the first place. My second mistake was letting Taylor and Ryan invite some of their high school friends that were still in town."

"I want to hear this story." Vanessa said as she pointed to the overturned sound system.

"Let's go pick up breakfast and I will tell you everything. I wonder how hard it will be to get a cleaning crew to come in to fix this on the weekend. Give me a couple of minutes to change and kicked out the winners for most idiotic drunk hook up from my bedroom. I should have listened to Chad." Kim mumbled as she went upstairs.

**January 8, 2009 7:55 AM**

"I can't believe you're having another welcome back party. Do you remember what happened last time?" Kim noticed the look of shock on Chad's face.

"I remember exactly everything that happened. You and Sharpay decided to keep Penelope away from you by making out and practically having sex on the dance floor. Penelope got pissed off and added three shots of vodka to Sharpay's drink. Unfortunately, my roommate really did think you should make crystal light with hard liquor and Sharpay got totally trashed. This led to Sharpay doing angry breakup karaoke where she destroys my son's teddy bear. The night ends with Sharpay molesting you as you and her make your very first almost sex tape."

"That was not my fault. You are the one who left the camera on in Sharpay's bedroom."

"That was an accident. You know how sorry I am about that. Try to remember that it was Troy's former girlfriend that posted it on the Internet. I'm the good friend that did not press charges when you hacked into the Security System at one of the hotels that my family owns to get rid of the footage of Sharpay trying to use a certain appendage of yours as a lollipop. By the way I have a copy of that. If anybody has the right to be mad about last time it's me. Do you have any idea how long it took me to get Alex to fall asleep that night after your girlfriend destroyed his favorite teddy bear?" Kim said with a touch of annoyance.

"That should be incentive enough for you not to have this party." Chad said flippantly as he pulled out his physics book.

"It's going to be a simple karaoke party between friends. I need a distraction. Troy's back at Berkeley and is only 40 miles away from the psychotic one." Even though she now knows that Gabriella is clinically unwell she was still uncomfortable about her being so close to Troy.

"You don't have to worry about Gabby. I know Troy probably better than you do. If he didn't go back to her after the trench coat incident you have nothing to worry about."

"There are other reasons why I need to do something fun. Did I mention that I get to spend 90 minutes a day with insane high school juniors? I have Jimmy and Tierra in the same English class. They're going to kill each other. It's not even the good type of tension that you and Sharpay had in high school. They want to kill each other and not do dirty things in the Janitor's closet."

"Jimmy has Marc and Kerri for that sort of thing." Chad said with a wicked smile.

"You are too much. Let's not forget that my almost father in law is teaching this class. No one should ever have to teach with her father in law. Starting a brand new curriculum two weeks from the championship game does not make for much fun on my part. I should be happy I'm in one of the class is that he's actually familiar with. He's way too stressed right now and your mom is 2000 miles away."

"Please don't talk about that sort of thing."

"It is so much fun to mess with you. I can't make these jokes with Troy anymore because he threatens to withhold sex if I say such things. Which reminds me pleased don't do dirty things in my house tomorrow night. At the very least don't do it in public. No one enjoys chocolate cake as much as Sharpay did yesterday. I saw your hand go under the table at dinner."

"I hate you." Chad whispered under his breath. "You have no idea what I was doing yesterday."

"Trust me I know exactly what you were doing. You know that you and Troy are a lot alike. You two probably share ideas."

"In my defense it was sex therapy homework." She just rolled her eyes when he said that. "Is there any reason why Sharpay and I should come to this psychotic party?" Chad asked her ignoring her reaction.

"You guys can stay over in the guest room this weekend so I don't have to listen to Sharpay complain about the lack of cuddling."

"Will be there as long as I get the room that my mom didn't use two weeks ago." Kim didn't have the heart to tell Chad that both rooms were utilized for that sort of thing. Troy had the misfortune of walking in on his father and Chad's mom doing certain inappropriate things.

"Don't worry about it. I now have two again because my almost father in law just moved next door."

"How did that happen?"

"The guy I bought this house from also owns the house next door. After the last group left the house so damaged that it took a month to repair the guy was happy to have someone mature renting the house."

**January 9, 2009 7:55 PM**

It was the worst week Penelope ever had. It was worse than the week her grandmother died and the winter musical was canceled at West High due to budget cuts. The problem of this week went beyond having Sharpay as her new roommate or the psychotic RA that was out to get her and Sharpay.

Sharpay wouldn't be such a bad roommate if she didn't wake up at 3:00 AM screaming at the top of her lungs. The words were usually, "Richard get the fuck away from me." Penelope couldn't be upset because she had the same nightmare. She wondered if she would be going through this three years from now.

In high school, she always thought Sharpay Evans was perfect. Now she realizes that wasn't accurate. For years she was jealous because Sharpay got to go two a good school with decent AP programs. Penelope was stuck at the extremely impoverished West High where they were lucky to have one production the year and had no college prep programs.

Penelope used to assume Sharpay had the perfect family with two parents and a brother who loved her. Penelope had a mom who was never there and a stepfather that liked to throw things. Now she knew neither of them had anything resembling perfect at home.

She hated Sharpay because she had Chad. Penelope was stuck with the frogs. Penelope hated Sharpay for years thinking she had the perfect life only to realize that perfection was a broken illusion.

Compared to the situation with Zeke, her Sharpay issues were tolerable. Both she and Sharpay were good at pretending things were okay when they were not. They could survive the next few months with minimal damage.

The Zeke situation is what is causing her the most problems The breakup was bad and nothing was ever resolved. Last summer when he dropped off his special brownies for Sharpay at the Albuquerque community theater, he wasn't expecting to see her there. He actually dropped the Tupperware Container when he saw her. When he left after giving Sharpay a sweet little kiss on the cheek, she followed him out to the parking lot.

It was a miracle that no one else saw her yell expletives at him in three languages. He had the audacity to blame her for the situation. She was angry and hurt. She actually loved him and he was fucking someone else behind her back. She would find out months later that Zeke's relationship with Sharpay never went beyond tiny kisses. However she didn't know that when she slammed her knee into his dick.

She hadn't seen Zeke since that day until Monday when she ran into him in the hallway outside of their shared drama class. She had the same urge to knee him in that area again but didn't. Although that may have something to do with Chad and Amanda physically restrain her.

Spending 4 hours a week with the ass that broker heart was torture. She hated him down to the essence of her soul. Unfortunately a stupid parts of her still loved him. She was such an idiot.

Tuesday after the game, Chad tried to convince her to switch classes with him. She wouldn't leave the class even after she found out that Mr. Windom was out for her blood. Her new year's resolution for 2009 was not to run away.

"I'm not changing classes. If I do that, he wins along with everyone else." Penelope said to the other three on the way back to the dorms.

"She's right. If we let them force us to change our life in any way Zeke and Richard win." Sharpay said from the front of the car. They both ended up staying in the class.

Penelope tried to ignore of the entire situation. She threw herself into her work at school and at East High. Being a teaching assistant at the high school that she despised for four years was a surreal experience in itself. Seeing pictures of her ex in the trophy case didn't help the situation that much. She couldn't pass by the gym without the urge to throw up.

Despite the mental torture, she had been doing a good job of avoiding him physically except in class. In drama class, she worked with Chad with Amanda acting as a buffer. Chad treated her as a little sister which was surreal considering she was a year older than him. She would take being treated as a sister over being treated as a pariah like last year.

When Zeke tried to talk to her after the basketball game Tuesday, she ignored him. When he followed her and Amanda back to their building after cheerleading rehearsals on multiple occasions, she slammed the door in his face.

After the week from hell, she needed a release. A party with people who didn't quite hate her any more seemed like a good idea. Knocking Richard unconscious made her quite popular with this group. Karaoke appeared to the performer inside her.

She put on the most skimpy outfit in her collection along with her "come fuck me" hills. Her hair was flawless and her makeup was dark in a sexy way. She was going out with one goal in mind. She is going to get Zeke out of her system tonight or died trying.

She rode to the party with the golden couple of A of U. She was not that upset about them being together anymore. She made peace over winter break. She was much more upset about the ass standing in Kim's living room.

"What the hell is he doing here?" She and Sharpay yelled simultaneously. She doubted Kim would invite that ass to this party. He looks so smug trying to hit on her fellow cheerleader. She was ready to kill him. She was halfway to him when she felt Chad and Kim pulled both her and Sharpay into another room.

* * *

It was 8:00 PM and she already knew that Chad was right. This party was a bad idea. She was expecting 20 people and there were already 70 there. Things wouldn't be so bad if she didn't let her stepsister talk her into inviting some of their old high school friends to the party.

She met Jason and Martha at brunch with Troy on the day before Christmas. They both seem nice enough although they were a little shocked about her relationship with Troy. Actually, the shock was only little when you compare to their outright disbelief at Chad and Sharpay being halfway to the altar. Martha fell out of her chair when she saw Chad and Sharpay making out with each other. Even though Jason already knew, he still didn't believe it. He actually thought the engagement ring was a joke. Kim was starting to believe that the people that know you best don't know you it all.

During her invitation, Taylor forgot to tell Martha and Jason not to bring Zeke or Kelsey to the party. Zeke came with Jason and Martha brought Kelsey. This was a disaster in the making. At least Zeke brought a peace offering of triple chocolate chip cookies. Kelsey was just being a bitch as usual.

She knew that the Taylor Kelsey situation was going to be explosive. She just didn't think that Taylor would be the one hitting Ryan. Kelsey being the same pass aggressive witch from high school decided to tell Taylor all about Ryan hitting on Chad back when she was still dating him. Taylor was pissed and ended up smacking Ryan upside the head. Of course, this was after Ryan unsuccessfully tried to get Zeke to leave. There's now a hole in her wall due to male stupidity.

Ryan and Taylor have already kissed and made up. Or maybe they're just making out to make Kelsey angry. She didn't care as long no more of or furniture got broken. There probably doing inappropriate things on the dance floor just to piss off Kelsey.

Now she had to deal with psychotic Sharpay and Penelope who noticed Zeke tried to hook up with Amanda. Fortunately, for them, Amanda doesn't do ass holes.

"It's not like I invited him. Your brother did not invite him either. They invited Jason, who didn't know that Zeke was not welcomed. Your brother already tried to kick him out once and now I have a lovely fist print in my family room." Kim said in an effort to keep Sharpay from killing someone.

"I'll take care of it. This is one of those times were having a lawyer on retainer comes in handy." Sharpay looked ready to kill. Chad and surprisingly Penelope grabbed her before she could do damage.

"He's not worth the assault charges. You were the one that said if we change our behavior we are letting them win." Penelope said quickly as she pulled Sharpay back.

"Do you have to throw my words back in my face?" Sharpay said with a touch of anger.

"That's the only fun I can still have. With this truce we can't make snide remarks at each other anymore." Penelope said under her breath.

"Oh there's still much fun to be had. I feel this is an excellent time for psychological torture." Chad said kissing Sharpay lightly on the lips causing her to calm down instantly.

"That is my specialty." Sharpay said with a wicked smirk.

"I love a little revenge." Penelope said with a smirk that scared Kim.

"I already know you have an evil scheme in that brilliant head of yours?" Chad said this as he kissed her on the temple.

"I think we should do the exact same thing we did to Richard." Sharpay said with another trademark grin.

"I thought the whole point of this exercise was not to be brought up on assault charges. Not that I've really wouldn't enjoy beating the hell out of that fucking prick. It is not the first time I've kicked him in the dick." All of them couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Do you remember back in October when you and Richard caught us doing inappropriate things at a store?"

"That was when you two pretended to have sex in the dressing room just to piss Richard off. He was so angry."

"How did you know we're pretending?" Chad asked with a wicked grin.

"I have a hundred dollars in the pool. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to tell. If you could have sex on the day we get a new president I win the bet."

"You two are not going to pretend to have sex in my living room or anywhere else." Kim said with hands on her hips.

"Who said anything about pretending?" Chad said smirking as he dragged Sharpay out to the dance floor.

"I'm still going to have to call the cops." Kim said sighing into her hand.

"That's fine for them. Now how am I going to get back at the prick?" "

"Just do what Sharpay did last time. Although please stay away from my son's toys."

"Make a sex tape with a really hot guy?" Penelope asked sarcastically.

"Broken heart karaoke. You and Sharpay are a lot alike in that you are both able to sing your feelings away. I suggest _I Will Survive_ or _You're So Vain_. The classics are always best. If you just happened to dirty things on the dance floor with someone hot that's just a bonus." Kim said as she left the room to go keep people from destroying her house. She starting to think high school students were easier to chaperon.

10 minutes later Kim heard Penelope singing the first few of lines the Pink song _So What_ with modified lyrics.

"_I guess I just lost my boyfriend, I don't know where he went. So I'm gonna drink my money. I'm not gonna pay his rent. I gotta a brand new attitude and I'm gonna wear it tonight. I wanna get in trouble. I wanna start a fight._" As Penelope sings every word, she could hear the anger and pain in her voice. When Penelope downed two shots of very hard liquor before starting the second verse of the song Kim knew this was going to be ugly.

**January 10, 2009 8:45 AM.**

The first thing Amanda realized when she woke up was that she was not in her room. The solid blue comforter and the pictures of Troy and Alex on the nightstand told her that. She must be in Kim and Troy's bedroom. The winter sun was coming through the curtains aggravating her headache.

She knew she drank way too much last night because it was the only way to keep certain thoughts away. She didn't remember anything last night after Penelope snapped and she started doing shots of Jack with the offending party. That Jack did a pretty good job of making her think the guy wasn't a complete dick.

She quickly pulled back the covers only to realize she wasn't wearing anything. On the nightstand was her black bra. She noticed a person like shape next to her and she started to panic. Her heart began to beat faster when she noticed the condom wrapper on the floor. At least in her stupidity she was smart enough to use a condom.

Memories where starting to come back to her. Flashes of teeth biting breast and fingers caressing delicate flesh entered her mind. From her memories, it was a good sexual encounter even if it was a stupid one.

Amanda didn't do random hookups usually. She hasn't been with anybody since the summer when she broke up with her high school boyfriend. However, Alcohol will make you do truly stupid things like sleep with the wrong person. She was almost positive who she slept with last night but needed to confirm her suspicions. Amanda pulled back the covers and truly realized how bad the situation was. "I am so fucked."

"You are just figuring that out now?" She heard Kim's accusing voice from the hallway and had to fight the urge to hide under the pillow.

**January 7, 2009 10:25 AM**

Amanda wished Chad and Penelope consulted with her before they started their evil plan to stay away from the stupid one. In the interest of the principle "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", Penelope and Chad were presenting a united front against Zeke. Instead of working with her friend, she was stuck working with a guy who she thinks is a total prick.

Currently they were doing this acting exercise where they were to convey a certain emotion without words. Chad accidentally drew sexiness and was currently giving Penelope a fake lap dance. Like the guy needed to act to pull off sexiness. He radiates sexiness from every pore.

If she was not friends with Sharpay she would be jealous. Because Sharpay was her friend, lusting after her boyfriend who happened to also be her friend was a big no no.

Yet for the last few months, certain thoughts kept creeping into her mind. It was completely innocent at first until she walked in on Chad between Sharpay's legs. She couldn't get the expression of pure ecstasy on Sharpay's face out of her mind. That's when her mind started to wonder what it would be like to be in Sharpay's place.

Amanda thought some distance would help the situation. That's the real reason why she suggested that her and Penelope switch rooms. She hoped that if she didn't have to spend as much time around the happy couple her feelings would go away. So far they haven't and she wondered if other people would pick up on it soon.

"Somebody's jealous." She heard Zeke say next to her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It is obvious. You're sitting back here wishing you were out there with him."

"He's a friend."

"A friend that you want to…"

"Please shut up, you don't know me. What I want or don't want is completely irrelevant. Even though you want to believe otherwise, Chad and Sharpay love each other very much. It would be easier to break in to fort Knox been to break those two apart."

"I seriously doubt Sharpay has changed that much. The entire time we were together, she was chasing after Troy. She probably still wants to be with Troy and is using Chad as a substitute."

"Trust me I know all about the Troy's situation. Troy's happy with Kim and Sharpay's happy with Chad. Sharpay and Troy are really good friends now."

"Then you realize how ridiculous the whole thing is. Sharpay and I didn't have an exclusive relationship. If she could follow Troy like a lost puppy than I could be with Penelope."

"Unfortunately you never told Sharpay and Penelope that. Neither girl seems like the type for polygamy." Amanda said as she heard the entire class began to clap.

"Wonderful job Chad." There professor said as Chad and Penelope took their seats. "Up next we have Zeke and Amanda. Amanda your emotion is going to be anger."

As she walked to the center of the classroom, she could hear Chad say, "If I knew that was an option I would've worked with Zeke. I'm starting to really love this class." Amanda felt the same way when she smacked Zeke across the face.

**January 9, 2009 9:46 PM**

"I cannot understand why your sister is so mad at me." Taylor asked her friend/sex partner after surviving a 10-minute rant from his angry sister. For some reason she wasn't willing to refer to Ryan as her boyfriend under any circumstances. Especially after what Kelsey told her tonight.

"Because when you invited Jason to come to the party you forgot to tell him that Zeke was not to set foot in this house under any circumstances. You better be happy that she is too distracted singing love songs to Chad to do something other than scream at you." Sharpay was currently singing the Alanis Morissette song Head over Feet.

"_You've already won me over in spite of me and don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet. Don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are. I couldn't help it. It's all your fault."_ Sharpay sang the last of the chorus with her trademark pout. Also During the harmonica parts Chad and Sharpay started making out. Those used to the A of U golden couple are not surprise. However, most of their high school friends who didn't witness the evolution of Chadpay were shocked. She could see Martha traumatized expression from here.

"You're the one who forgot to tell Martha not to bring Kelsey. I did not want to spend my Friday night with your ex girlfriend." Taylor said pulling away from his touch. She was still angry. Even though she started making out with him every time Kelsey was close enough to see.

"You are still upset about that?"

"You made a pass at my boyfriend in high school." Taylor said with a high amount of anger.

"In my defense I really didn't think you guys were actually dating. You and Chad never kissed in public or did anything beyond holding hands. In contrast, we all get worried when we don't see Chad and my sister making out constantly. You and I are always kissing in public. It just seemed strange that you and him didn't have a physical relationship."

"Your point is?" Taylor asked him with hands on hips.

"There was this rumor going around back in high school that you and Gabriella were Chad and Troy's cover." Ryan said this to her in the near whisper. Ryan can't be saying what she thinks he's saying. There's just no way. Then again, her stepsister made some joke about leaving Troy to Chad and Sharpay in her will. Maybe it wasn't a joke, this is Kim we're talking about.

"What do you mean cover?" Taylor asked Ryan to clarify hoping not to get the answer she knew was coming. If Chad cheated on her with Troy, she was going to kill him.

"Do you remember how badly Chad reacted when Troy started hanging around Gabriella?"

"Yes"

"Remember how sulky he was when Troy was around my sister during the summer of 2007?"

"The popular belief is he was upset because Troy was too close to Sharpay."

"That makes sense now because we know Chad is my sister soul mate. At the time, we didn't know that. The rumor mill thought it was the other way around. In addition everybody could see that Troy's relationship with Gabriella was very superficial."

"Everyone but Gabriella, Troy, and your ex girlfriend could see that their relationship was superficial. Add to the fact that Chad kept me at arm's length for our entire relationship and you have the ultimate rumor." Great her relationship with Chad was so bad in high school that everybody actually thought he was with Troy. How could she not see this at the time?

"That summer it seemed like the rumor was true. Everybody knew Chad was acting like a jealous lover. I thought it was the perfect time to make a move. You'll be happy to know that when I tried to kiss your boyfriend he pushed me away immediately."

"At least he was able to resist one Evans." Taylor said sarcastically.

"Unfortunately it was the wrong one." She heard Zeke say snidely from behind her. Taylor just rolled her eyes before asking Ryan to get her a drink. She needed something stronger before she had to deal with the young and conceded. She also didn't want Ryan and Zeke to start fighting again. She made a point of kissing Ryan deeply before he left because she knew that Kelsey was watching again.

When Sharpay's love song ended, Penelope and Sharpay decided to channel their anger into a duet. Earlier in the evening Penelope was being the very angry ex girlfriend singing songs like _Cry Me A River_, _You Oughta Know_ and _Lovesick_. Taylor listened to that song a lot during the beginning of the Chad Sharpay fiasco.

Sharpay decided to take the opposite route by singing songs about how much she loved Chad. This explains her previous choice. It didn't bother her. She could obviously see the difference between Chad's relationship with Sharpay in his relationship with her. Despite the initial anger, she realizes that Sharpay really is Chad soul mate.

She was not angry about Chad and Sharpay being together but Zeke definitely was. She could see it as he watched Sharpay and Penelope perform the Janet Jackson song_**I Betcha** Think This Song Is About You._ She started laughing hysterically when both girls sung the line, "_Greedy mother fuckers, Try to have your cake and eat it too_," looking directly at Zeke. The whole thing was funny. The look on Zeke's face was priceless.

"What were you expecting them to do _The Boy Is Mine_? Sharpay is not Brandy and Penelope is not Monica. Well they may do that song over Chad but not you." Taylor said remembering the story of how Sharpay ended up kissing Taylor's then boyfriend in the first place at Kim's last party.

"I don't know what I was expecting them to do. I don't know why they are so upset."

"Maybe it had something to do with the fact that you were making Sharpay brownies while Penelope was giving you head in the locker room. Girls don't like being cheated on." Amanda said passing the infamous red cup to Taylor. "Ryan told me to give you that. He's worried that if he comes back over he may kill him." Amanda said pointing at Zeke.

"Again I don't know why everybody is upset. We didn't have an exclusive relationship. If she could try to hook up with Troy, I could be with Penelope." Taylor didn't have the energy to explain the Troy situation. Besides she wasn't really supposed to know the real reason behind Sharpay's Troy crush in high school.

"What about Penelope? She was in love with you." Amanda said with a touch of anger.

"Penelope doesn't do love, just like Sharpay doesn't do love."

"Trust me both of them do love. I think those two picked the perfect song for you. God you are way too cocky."

"You would like me, if you got to know me." Zeke said putting an arm on Amanda. Amanda quickly pushed him away.

"I doubt that. I'll see you later. I'm going to perform next." Amanda said making her way to the stage and Taylor went to find Ryan. She saw him talking with Kim. She took the opportunity to ask her stepsister to verify that a certain rumor from high school was untrue with her fiancé. As Kim started laughing at her because of her request, she heard Amanda sing the first few lines of the TLC song _Silly Ho._

"_I ain't never been no Silly Ho. Waiting for your call like the other girls want you. I ain't never been no one to mess with someone else's mess. That's not a thing for me to do."_ As Amanda sung the words she looked directly at Zeke. There was definitely something else going on here.

* * *

Sharpay was currently against Chad on the dance floor as the sounds of Usher where played in the Background. She loved being with him on the dance floor like this. It was as close to sex as she was willing to get with him at the moment.

She could feel his reaction every time her body made contact with his. He was hard against her and she loved it. She could still feel that spark of electricity as he started to touch places he probably shouldn't with this many people around. However, that didn't stop him Wednesday at that restaurant.

"You said you didn't dance," She whispered to him as she placed another hot kiss against his neck. At that moment she felt him turn her around.

_  
If you're a bad girl  
Get at me bad girl_

Ooh work me baby  
Shakin' it the way I like  
I'm ready to be bad

She could feel his desire for her pressed against her backside. She couldn't resist thrusting back into him. This is how she would build trust with him. Who knew doing sex therapy homework could be so much fun.

_I need a bad girl (say yeah)  
Get at me bad girl_

"Only with you." He whispered into her ear. She could feel his breath on her neck as he pulled away. His fingers were making their presence known on her hips and thighs. He pushed into her again as his mouth made contact with the overheated skin around her collarbone. She could feel tongue and teeth worshiping her. He was cleansing her body of all its imperfections.

"What are you doing?" The words came out as a breathy whisper because he felt so good pressed up against her hard and wanting. She felt in control knowing that she can cause this reaction in him even though she knew she became completely undone around him. This is what she needs to feel comfortable.

_I need a bad girl (bad girl)  
If you're a bad girl_

"I'm just following doctors' orders or maybe I'm just seeing if I can get you to come on the dance floor." He said turning her around. She can feel the moisture flow to her core as she listens to his sex laced voice. She feels him pressed into her harder than before.

Instinctively she wrapped one leg around him. She needed to feel friction against that part of her anatomy that needs him. Finally, years of dancing classes paid off. She would never try this with anyone else. He was the only one she trusted to be this out of control with. They were kissing each other again. Their mouths are battling each other for dominance.

_Oh, I wanna take one to the restroom  
So close I'm smellin' like your perfume  
If you're a bad girl  
Get at me bad girl_

"The song and you are giving me such naughty ideas or maybe it's just you." He whispered the words against her lips as her began to massage her breast through the black material of her dress. For some reason she decided not to wear a bra today.

_Ooh work me baby  
Shakin' it the way I like  
I'm ready to be bad  
I need a bad girl (say yeah)  
Get at me bad girl  
What sexy lady's comin' home with me tonight?_

"Upstairs." She moaned out as she pressed down on his erection one more time. She was already halfway gone. At this point they were not really on the dance floor anymore but slowly making their way to the stairs.

"Did you drink any of Kim special punch?" He asked as he continued touching her.

"I'm completely sober and I still want you to make me come." As she said the words, Chad pulled her up the stairs to their room for the night. Unfortunately, they ran into Kim before they made it to the room. Her angry gaze was more effective than any cold shower.

"Oh no you don't, back downstairs right now." Kim said pushing them down the stairs. "You two can have private time after you help me with the psychotic college students. I have too many drunk people in my house and I need help controlling the masses."

"We will help you as soon as I'm more relaxed." Chad said as he pulled Sharpay back upstairs.

"Not happening." Kim said grabbing Chad by the wrist. "Just think really unpleasant thoughts like me showing Mr. Evans the footage from the elevator at Snow Gardens on Sharpay's birthday or was it already past midnight. You do know what he'll do when he finds out you and his daughter had another incident with a camera." Kim said pushing them back to the karaoke area.

"I hate you."

"No you don't because I'm the mother of your favorite almost nephew. Stay here and tried not to have sex on the dance floor again. You can keep people I don't know from doing inappropriate things in my bathroom. Now excuse me while I go get yelled at by your brothers ex girlfriend who is still angry about me breaking up her favorite couple to write songs for." With that, Kim was gone.

"I hate your best friend." Chad said with a pout.

"No you don't. You're just sexually frustrated."

"Very frustrated. Now that she is gone we could probably sneak back upstairs."

"She still watching and I want to get invited to stay again later on. If we do stupid things now you can forget about spending the night in the same bed until after finals. We can have played time later."

* * *

What the hell was he thinking coming to this party? When Jason suggested coming here, it sounded like a good idea. He wasn't expecting Sharpay, Penelope or Chad to be there. Jason forgot to mention that the party was at the house of Troy's wife Kim.

Just the thought of Troy being married to someone that wasn't Gabriella was shocking without the fact that they have a two year old together. Unlike the others he went to high school with, he knew to keep his mouth shut. It just proves you can never really know a person. Maybe if they knew that back in high school, Sharpay would have willingly given up on Troy once and for all. Zeke loved Sharpay but Sharpay didn't love him.

It was obvious from the fact that Sharpay didn't have an initial reaction to his arrival at the school when at least Penelope yelled at him his suspicions were true. The first thing Sharpay did when she saw him Monday was kiss Chad. Actually, it was more than kissing. She jumped on top of Chad and literally wrapped her legs around him as her mouth descended upon his causing him to go into the wall. Zeke had no idea a kiss could be that soft core.

Every time after that encounter she would kiss, touch, or engage Chad in some intimate way every time she saw Zeke. She was basically telling him that he wasn't worth a reaction from her. He was beginning to wonder if the constant groping was for his benefit alone. If she was doing such a thing, maybe she really did care about him at some point. The Truth of the matter is he couldn't see Sharpay in love with anybody but herself.

So far this evening he watched Penelope go through the best of angry breakup songs. She actually ripped a teddy bear on stage at some point. He didn't understand why she was so upset when they were in a just sex relationship. It wasn't liked they were actually dating.

The torture continued with Sharpay singing love songs to Chad. That was just round one. The entire time he was trying to hook up with Amanda, Sharpay was simulating sex with Chad on the dance floor. Sharpay wasn't like that in high school. She would break his hands if he even thought about putting them on her back side. Chad was doing more than that. He actually saw them make a run for the bedrooms before Troy's wife kick them back downstairs.

He was so shocked by the display that he asked Amanda if they were really like that.

"Remind me to show you the "fantasy girl" video clip Monday. Trust me this isn't for your benefit. They are always like this. During midterms last semester, they were making out so hard they actually broke a computer because they forgot it was on the bed. There's a reason why it seemed like Sharpay have an actual orgasm on the dance floor.. You don't have a chance in hell getting back with her. She loves him and he loves her. It would take an act of god to get Chad away from her." He could sense the anger in her voice again. He instantly picked up on the way she looked at Chad. It was obvious she didn't think of him as a friend.

"Trust me, I know better than to try. You I'm not so sure about. Somebody sounds jealous." He said sarcastically.

"I'm not jealous. It's just not possible to break them apart. Now that little show is for you." A few minutes earlier the DJ started playing Poker Face by Lady Gaga. Penelope was on the floor rubbing up with some girl that Zeke didn't recognize.

_Russian Roulette is not the same without a gun  
And baby when it's love if its not rough it isn't fun, fun_

"Enjoy the show Zeke. Excuse me as I go look for a guy who's not a prick. If you see one let me know." He really liked that girl.

* * *

Penelope was actually having fun. She ended up dancing with Nikki and Marc instead of hot random strangers, but that was okay. She couldn't believe that her and Marc actually made out with the same guy once. A person who was now in the drama II class she was assisting to at EHS. While she was dancing in a very obscene way with Nikki just to piss Zeke off they talked her into going up on stage to do another song.

"Come on you have to do "single ladies". He was so jealous right there. You have to do it. " Nikki said pushing her to the stage.

Chad was currently on stage singing Sharpay another love song. The current selection was _Wanna Love U Girl by_ Robin Thicke. She had no idea how Kim got karaoke versions of some of these songs.

"_Shes the kind of girl u wanna marry."_ Chad actually grabs Sharpay's engagement ring as he sings that line.

"_The kind of girl u walk the whole earth 4. Put her on your back and just carry. Her attitude is hotter than the earths core."_ Now that was definitely Sharpay, Penelope thought to herself.

_"When shes around nothing else matters. Untouchable shes got her own force field. Sooner or later someone will get at her. If I dont someone else will. Wanna love u girl, wanna love u girl." _As Chad sang every word to Sharpay, you could tell that he really did love her. The ode to love made Penelope slightly nauseous. She was okay with the two being together but she was jealous of the fact that Sharpay had someone that really did love her.

"I'll sing the song just so I don't have to listen to any more love songs from the golden couple. I think I prefer it when they were making out in front of me all the time."

According to Murphy 's Law, whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Because she spent the night watching the person she was in love with for three years throw himself at one of her friends she thought nothing else could go wrong today. As everything in the life of Penelope Castro, it all goes to hell in the most spectacular way possible.

Instead of putting the code in for _Single Ladies Marc_ accidentally put in the code for _Broken-hearted Girl_. She didn't want to sing the song because it was close to how she was feeling. She made it through the first verse without crying. She even made it through half of the chorus with minimal shaking. However When she sang the lines, "I know that I love you, but let me just say, I don't wanna love you in no kind of way, no no. I don't want a broken heart. I don't wanna play the broken-hearted girl," she broke apart.

She ran off the stage crying into the front yard. Somehow, he managed to catch up with her before she left the property.

"You loved me?" he says as a question not as a statement. Even after the horrible display of emotions, he still doesn't get it.

"You are just figuring that out now you fucking prick. Did you think we were just fuck buddies?" The expression on his face told her that's exactly what he thought they were. That just made her fall apart.

Before she even knew what she was doing, she had him on the ground. The first punch was so hard she knew that she drew blood. The second and third punches were worse. She stopped counting at that point as she continued taking her rage out on him. For some reason he never punched back.

She felt Marc and Nikki pull her off as she heard Sharpay say "I knew one of us was going to snap eventually." Despite the high amounts of alcohol she consumed earlier the site of blood running down Zeke's face sobered her up quickly.

"C'mon you've had way too much to drink." Nikki said pulling her in to the house.

She can hear Marc say, "this would not have happened if she sang Pink's _U + Ur Hand_ instead."

When they got to one of the guest rooms Penelope just lay down on the bed and started to cry. This is such a mess.

* * *

Because she was the only one who could be in a room with Zeke without trying to kill him, Amanda was the one that helped after Penelope snapped. She started cleaning him up in the kitchen because some idiots were having sex in the guest bathroom. Kim sent them to her and Troy's room with a medical kit when they started to get blood on her kitchen table. Amanda decided to take a bottle of Jack with them. She wanted to hear what really happened from Zeke's perspective and felt alcohol was the only way to get some real answers at this point.

"I didn't know. I am such a fuck up." Zeke said sitting on the toilet in the master bathroom.

"That is the first intelligent thing you've said all day." Amanda said as she began to wipe the blood away as painfully as possible. She heard a hiss of pain when she poured alcohol on the cut. That made her feel better.

"You're having too much fun with this."

"You think. How could you not know that Penelope loved you?"

"I think I'm going to need more alcohol before I can begin this story."

"I did bring an entire bottle the Jack Daniel's."

It took most of the bottle and 45 minutes for the truth to finally come out.

"Why did she have to fall in love with him?" Zeke said slurring.

"I've been asking myself that same question."

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to be in the shadow of Troy and Chad? They always seem so perfect. It was so hard to be at school where you have to be Disney perfect." Zeke said taking another drink from the bottle before passing it back to Amanda. At this point, there was probably only an inch left.

"I've already heard this rant before. Although I think it was Chad and Troy getting absolutely wasted after thanksgiving hell. Trust me they are not perfect. Even Troy Bolton couldn't be Troy Bolton."

"That explains the two year old and not Gabriella wife."

"They're not married yet. They just told you that because it was easier than explaining why Kim had his last name already. Troy wants to marry her but Kim said ho."

"That doesn't make sense." Zeke said taking the bottle back from her.

"I think it would if we were still sober."

"Sobriety is overrated."

"I agree. If I was sober I wouldn't do this." Amanda said with slurred words as she kissed him.

**January 10, 2009 2:25 AM Pacific time**

Troy couldn't stop laughing at the question his girlfriend just asked him.

"I think the rumor about me and Chad was started by the same people who started the incest rumor about Ryan and Sharpay."

"Chad was the one who started the incest rumor." His fiancée pointed out to him in an annoying way.

"I forgot about that. I'm closer to Chad than almost anybody except you, but it was never in that way."

"My stepsister made me ask. This party has been such a disaster. Kelsey and Taylor managed to break a coffee table and give Ryan a black eye about an hour ago. At this Point, I'm happy that Ryan and Taylor likely snuck off to the bathroom to do dirty things again. Fortunately, the very sober Chad and Sharpay are helping me kick everybody out or keep people occupied by doing more love song karaoke. I got really good footage of Chad doing Senorita. Although Chad is mad at me because I won't let him do dirty things with Sharpay upstairs." Troy starts to laugh at that.

"I told you not to have this party."

"Yes, I know better now. The worst part was listening to several of your high school friends wondered why you left Gabriella for me." There was the Gabriella insecurity again.

"You know I love you."

"I know that. It didn't make the evening any less uncomfortable when Kelsey said the only reason why you and I are engaged is because you knocked me up."

"You know that's not true."

"I know that. Oh god, I'm going to have to burn the sheets now." He heard his girlfriend say in a way that made no sense.

"What are you talking about?" Suddenly he could tell Kim switched the phone to speaker mode. It sounded like somebody was having very loud sex.

"I think Ryan and Taylor doing unspeakable things in our bedroom. But there's only one way to know for sure. "

"You're not actually going to look are you?"

"Of course, I'm going to look and then I'm going to kick them out. Someone is having sex in our bedroom. For somebody who had sex with me on the roof of the school, you are such a prude." Kim said as he heard her open the door and quickly slammed it close.

"Oh god I think my eyes are still burning. There must be copious amounts of alcohol involved for Amanda to do something that stupid."

"I told you not to look." Troy chastised his girlfriend.

"We're going to have to burn the whole bedroom set. I really like that bedroom set."

"It cannot be that bad." Kim had to be exaggerating.

"Yes it was. I just saw Amanda having sex with Zeke in our bedroom.

"What the fuck?"

"My sentiments exactly."

**To be continued**

A/N: Below is the soundtrack for this chapter in order of appearance.

Gloria Gaynor: _I Will Survive_

Carly Simon: _You're So Vain_

Pink: _So What_

Alanis Morissette: Head over Feet.

Justin Timberlake: Cry Me A River

Alanis Morissette: You Oughta Know

TLC: Lovesick.

Janet Jackson: _Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You)_

Brandy and Monica: The Boy Is Mine

TLC: _Silly Ho._

Usher: Bad Girl (I use the song for the sound, not the lyrics)

Lady Gaga:Poker Face

Robin Thicke:_ Wanna Love U Girl _(I wished I could I use _Sex Therapy or Diamonds,_ but the songs are too new.)

_Beyoncé: Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)_

_Beyoncé: Broken-hearted Girl_.

Pink: _U + Ur Hand_

Justin Timberlake: Senorita


	30. Love and Basketball

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This story is only two reviews from 100. All encouragement appreciated.

A/N: In this story, all universities mentioned are depicted in a fictitious way.

I decided to manipulate the age of consent laws for New Mexico for the sake of the narrative. For some reason age of consent laws vary by state. I have no idea what the exact laws are in New Mexico. They're probably completely different than any state I've lived in so far.

**Warning:** harsh language, mentions of child abuse, and mentions of sexual assault.

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* * *

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Chapter 30: Love and Basketball

**January 10, 2009 9:33 AM**

Amanda stood in the line of the pharmacy down the street from Kim's house wearing a borrowed outfit. Zeke was a little too enthusiastic last night and her outfit was completely unwearable. Fortunately, her and Kim are about the same size even though Amanda is significantly taller than her.

After yelling at her for 15 minutes, Kim quickly kicked Zeke out of the house before the emotionally distraught Penelope or the easily pissed off Sharpay saw him. The first question out of Kim's mouth was "What the hell were you thinking?" Neither her nor Zeke had an answer for Kim.

After Zeke ran out of the house undetected, Kim pushed her into the bathroom and told her to go change. Before she even realize what was happening she found herself in the backseat of the SUV of Kim's stepmom recounting the entire twisted story of what happened last night. Kim being the overprotective friend decided that they needed to make a stop at the pharmacy after they got the bagels and gourmet coffee.

"I don't know why you're making me do this. I'm pretty sure we used a condom last night." Amanda said with a little annoyance as Kim stood next to her in line.

"If you were drunk enough to sleep with him in the first place, you were too out of it to use protection. Again what the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm too hung over to answer that question right now. Besides I distinctly remember a condom wrapper on the floor." Amanda said in her defense.

"That may not be your wrapper. Do you have any idea how many people were doing dirty things in my house last night? I only kept Chad and Sharpay from doing anything inappropriate because I had decent blackmail material."

"That's just disturbing."

"You're the one who had stupid sex in my bedroom. I'm going to have to burn everything." Amanda could tell Kim was pissed.

"I would help but I have an away game tomorrow. Zeke can't try to see me if I'm in another state all day. Too bad we're not staying overnight. I would love an excuse to miss drama class Monday. This is such a mess." If 30% of the grade for that class wasn't based on in class work she wouldn't show up next Monday.

"It's not going to be that bad. First, last night did not happen. Monday you'll work with someone else in class and completely ignore the prick in question. Zeke and I are the only ones who know what happened and I will make sure he keeps his mouth shut." Kim said with a level of protectiveness that Amanda never saw before except when Alex was concerned. "Right now just worry about not getting pregnant. Thank God for Planned B."

"You're actually pretty good at this mothering thing." Amanda wasn't sure she meant that as a compliment or a insult but she said it anyway.

"Having a child at 19 will do that for you. I love Alex but being a parent at 19 is difficult. If you're going to keep doing stupid things like this I suggest you go on the pill and learn to take it better than I did. Did you know that birth control pills are not effective if you take them at different times every day?" Amanda already knew this. The story of Alex's conception was legendary among the group.

"Too bad you didn't figure that out before you ruined my son's life." Even though she only met the woman once before, Amanda would never forget the voice of Lucille Bolton. The voice was dripping with anger and bitterness. The expression matched perfectly.

"I should be happy that you're recognizing Alex as your grandson now. Our son did not ruin our life. Troy and I both love Alex very much. You on the other hand have done a lot of damage. You along with my mother conspired to keep me and Troy apart for two years while sending Gabriella straight to the mental hospital. Why did I even bother talking to you? You're not worth our time." Kim said hostilely before stepping up to the counter and ordering the medication that Amanda needs.

"Of course you would be here to pick up emergency contraceptive when my son is out of town. I see nothing's really changed for you. Who did you screw behind my son's back this week? " Kim just stood there without saying a word.

"I doubt you would even know if your son was here or not since Troy told me he stopped speaking to you in December. Actually, the pills are for me. Your daughter in law AKA the love of your son's life was just being a good friend. I'm the one that had really promiscuous sex with a guy I've known for about a week. Kim is the one he yelling at me and forcing me to take precautions. She is really good person." Amanda was starting to believe everything Chad and Kim told her about this woman.

"Don't bother Amanda. This woman hates me. I don't know why."

"Maybe because you raped my son." It seemed like the attention of everybody in the store was on Kim and Lucy now.

"Even I will admit having sex with a 15 year old was not my best ideal ever. Contrary to your delusional believe everything I did with Troy was consensual. Now that I'm no longer a scared child easily intimidated by you, I know that because Troy and I are less than three years apart. Nothing we did was illegal. Now that he's 18 you have no say whatsoever. What's done is done Lucy. We can't change the past. You're already looking at a lengthy prison sentence. Do you really want to lose your grandchildren?" She couldn't believe that Kim was actually offering an olive branch to this woman. But then again the only reason Lucy was out was because Kim paid her bail.

"Not if they come from a bitch like you. I kept you and my son apart before and I can do it again. Do you really think Troy going to Berkeley was completely his choice?" Lucy had a very self satisfied smirk on her face as she said that.

"Considering that it didn't work your point is useless. You can't fight true love." Amanda said before Kim could.

"Watch me." Lucy said as she walked away angrily.

* * *

"It was just too early to deal with that evil woman. If she was not Troy's mom I would have punched her out. It wouldn't surprise me if she actually did put things in motion to get Troy at Berkeley." Chad heard Kim said as she put the bagels and things on Jack's kitchen table. They were meeting over there because Kim's house was completely trashed. The cleaning crews were just now starting to put things back together again. Almost everyone was their except for Nikki and Marc. They left earlier to go back to the dorms. Penelope was also still with them but she stayed so quiet everyone forgot she was there.

"I do remember her refusing to sign the letter of intent for A of U. I really didn't think anything of it at the time because Caroline refuse to sign any letters of intent regarding Chad." Jack said as he approached the table and grabbed a something to eat before placing Alex in his high chair. Yes, Kim bought a highchair just for this house.

"That is because my mom refused for me to go to any school on a basketball scholarship. Which is probably the best decision she ever made." Chad said grabbing two bagels and some fruit as he took a seat at the table.

"Why didn't you sign the letter?" Kim asked her father in law quickly. Chad stopped using "almost" because at this point the only thing that was missing was the marriage license.

"Conflict of interest," both he and Jack said simultaneously.

"I could see your mom doing something like that. She is on the alumni board at Berkeley and she gets a sick pleasure from making you miserable." Sharpay said as she sat on his lap and place an arm around him. "I was not part of the group back then but I don't remember Troy mentioning any other school besides A of U. Troy was willing to sing with me at Lava Springs just so he would have an inside edge with the boosters. " Sharpay said this as she started eating Chad's breakfast.

"Troy wasn't looking at other schools until mommy dearest started whispering things in his ear. He was perfectly OK with leaving Gabriella behind before she started manipulating him. I didn't know it at the time, but she kept pointing out to him how bad it would be for him to lose Gabriella like he lost Kim. It was obvious she was manipulating him to stay with Gabriella. She was even the one who convinced him to drive up to Stanford to keep Gabriella from breaking up with him. He was ready to let go but she convince him otherwise." Chad said this as he grabbed his breakfast back from Sharpay. "Get your own food."

"Why should I." Sharpay said as she placed a very gentle kiss on his lips. "That alone proves Lucy is a very screwed up person. What kind of nut encourages their child to drive that death trap all the way to California and back?"

"I did not know about the Stanford stunt until I found the note from Troy that night. He was grounded from graduation until his 18th birthday. I had no ideal Lucy encouraged him to do it." Chad could tell that Jack was very angry.

"Other than her trying to play matchmaker we have no proof that my mother or Lucy did anything illegal to get Troy at Berkeley?" Kim asked as she cut the bagel into little pieces for Alex to eat.

"Did he have the grades to go to school there?" Amanda asked from the side joining the conversation late.

"Barely, and that is probably only because Gabriella helped him so much." Chad said to the rest of the group.

"That doesn't matter much. There were a couple players at West last year who barely passed that ended up at good schools." Penelope said finally making herself known to the group.

"Then why did Jason and up at junior college?" Sharpay asked in puzzlement as she took another piece of Chad's fruit. Chad gave up at this point. He knew this was going to happen that's why he got a double portion.

"Zeke said something about Jason's parents wanting him to concentrate on academics. Did it seem out of the ordinary for the recruiter from Berkeley to be there?" Amanda said grabbing a cup of coffee.

"When did you talk to Zeke?" Sharpay asked looking at her friend strangely. He noticed Amanda's eyes grew wide before she composed herself again.

"We had to talk about something between activities in class last week." Amanda answered quickly without looking at her. He had a feeling that there was more going on. It will give him something to talk with her about tomorrow on the way to the game. When did he get to a point in his life where he rather hang out with the cheerleaders than the rest of the team?

"We had a lot of new schools sending people to look of the team last year. We had four seniors on the team. I didn't think anything about the fact that most of these schools never sent recruiters to our school before. At one game alone we had four different scouts from the ivy league." Jack said.

"It makes sense because we had a lot of new schools showing up last year at West High games. I was approached by two schools in Texas myself for cheerleading scholarships. Why did you have so many ivy league schools showing up?" Penelope asked as she grabbed something to eat.

"That ivy league schools were there for super genius. Chad got over a 2100 on his SATs. He also had a 4.2 GPA in high school." Sharpay said grabbing a strawberry off of his plate and feeding it to him. He quickly took one of her fingers into his mouth and began to remove the juices with his tongue.

"Can you please not do that? I'm still queasy from a hangover. How could you hide being that smart? Your GPA was almost as high as mine was. Did you ever think about going to Yale with me?" Taylor said from her position next to Ryan.

"I wasn't exactly ready to embrace my inner genius at the time. Troy and I were planning to go to A of U together since kindergarten. I wasn't ready to give that up by applying to schools that I knew Troy couldn't go two. Thinking about it now maybe I should have applied to Stanford." He said as an afterthought.

"You ended up exactly where you were supposed to be. Although if I go to the University of Manhattan next year. You are so applying to Columbia." Sharpay said this as she leaned over and kissed him again.

"I agree that it's too early for you guys to be all over each other. Most of us have hangovers and may start throwing up easily. So what changed other than Lucy's meddling?" Amanda asked in confusion

"Juilliard," he and Sharpay answered in tandem.

"That was Miss Darbus attempt at playing matchmaker."

"What?" Kim and Jack both yelled at the same time. Although several others in the room looked completely shocked.

"She knew the entire time and didn't tell me." Jack said with an angry sigh.

"After my mother try to kill me I kept Alex's existence as quiet as possible. I was scared. I asked her not to say anything."

"You were in New York and you wouldn't let her tell Troy about Alex so the next best thing would be to get him to go to school in New York." Sharpay said automatically guessing what happened

"Knowing her, that's probably why. However, why not try to get him into the University of Manhattan. The acting program is better their and there would have been greater chance that I would have see him. In addition, the University of Manhattan has a basketball team. It would been the perfect solution." Kim said wistfully.

"She did." Chad said to the group. "She said that they turned him down."

"He was a semifinalist for a Juilliard scholarship. The University of Manhattan needs all the good basketball players they could get. How could he not qualify? That just doesn't make sense." Sharpay said in puzzlement.

"I think these are questions I should ask my private investigator. We already know that my mom was perfectly OK with screwing with the lives of others and attempted murder. Blackmailing some university into not accepting an individual wouldn't be beyond her capabilities." Kim said in a sad voice.

"And I thought my family was screwed up. Thank you for making me feel normal." Penelope said taking a drink of her coffee.

"Glad we can help." Kim said sarcastically. "There's nothing we can do now. I will have the private investigators look into it. I do not want Troy to know about what's going on until we have some evidence that Lucille or my mom did something to get Troy into Berkeley that may be illegal. This conversation doesn't leave this room."

Everybody nodded in agreement.

**January 11, 2009 2:35 PM Pacific time **

It took about six days and Kim buying an entire furniture store via the Internet but their house was starting to look like a home. There were still boxes everywhere and only half the furniture was up but that's OK. They decided back in November that it would be impractical for him to stay in the dorms if she was going to be visiting with Alex all the time. He was expecting to move into a nice apartment not a four bedroom townhouse with space for the dog formerly owned by Sharpay to run around in. He really hated that dog but Alex loved his "puppy".

In celebration of having the house half way together he decided to invite some friends over. Unlike his girlfriend, he had the common sense not to have any alcohol out. The fact that Madison and her boyfriend were bringing Gabriella only emphasize that this party needed to be alcohol free.

It's not that he doesn't want to see Gabriella, because he does. However it's in a "I don't want to see her have another nervous breakdown" way. The first words he said to Gabriella involved a check of her mental health. Gabriella's response was, "Yes dad I am taking my anti crazy pills." They have her on a better mix of medication this time. Sunny happy Gabriella from high school has been replaced with semi bitch Gabriella. He has been told this is a closer facsimile to who she was before she got sick.

"Why can I have a rich girlfriend?" One of his teammates asked once they settled in the family room with the 50 inch plasma television.

"He also got stuck with a two year old. The country club lifestyle is just not worth that." Said James, one of his teammates that he hated. Troy didn't want to invite James but had no choice because he invited everyone else on the team. Unlike Chad, he could tolerate most of the team for short periods of time without the urge to strangle anyone. James was the exception.

The guy was always making snide comments about Troy even before everyone was aware of Alex. Before he made comments such as, "I've seen the tapes; you were a much better player in high school. Too bad your boyfriend Chad decided to go to another school. I guess you can't play as well without the incentive of a postgame blow job."

It's not like the comment bothered him that much. It wasn't the first time people thought he and Chad were dating. Now James made nasty comments about Alex and Kim.

Originally he and Kim were going to keep the fact that he was a teenage father a secret for now. After the thanksgiving incident, the arrest of his mom on embezzlement charges, and Kim's mom being an international fugitive made keeping that secret impossible.

The people who knew him in high school were shocked. The nasty comments Kim received Friday were mild compared to the things he heard from people who were supposed to be his friends. Jason actually asked if he got a DNA test when Kim took Alex to the restroom at the brunch in December.

Those on the basketball team felt sorry for him. They said things like, "This is why you should always use a condom." Or "At least you got a rich girlfriend out of the deal."

His drama friends were the most supportive. It helped that some of them are nontraditional students and a few of them have children of their own. With those friends, he can talk about the misery of potty training and trying to balance being a parent with being a college student. With everybody else, he has to pretend to be that person that was never real to begin with. Instead of giving in to James's taunts Troy just thought it was time to talk about his son.

"I was not saddled with a child. I love my son and hate that he's not here." Troy was actually more enthusiastic about spending time with Alex then playing against Chad in the big game Thursday night. This led to him being asked to bring out baby pictures by Gabriella.

"He's so cute." Gabriella said before asking him to play the latest baby video that Kim sent. Of course his girlfriend mislabeled the clips and he accidentally played the clip of Chad singing love songs to Sharpay. Thankfully it wasn't one of the more NC 17 clips on the computer. Yes, unfortunately his girlfriend still sends him pornographic material. However, she was the star of most of it and he learned how to password protect that stuff.

"Look it is your boyfriend instead of your little bastard kid." Due to his acting skills Troy didn't even look mildly pissed. Actually it was Gabriella who said something. The new medication mix was making her more assertive, thank god.

"Technically Alex is a bastard because his parents were married when he was conceived, but then again so are you. How damage is your glass house after throwing all those stones?"

"Thank you Gabriella."

"Chad and Troy and never dated in high school because Troy was not Chad's type."

"Never mind," Troy said in slight irritation.

"He's really good. Why didn't Sharpay chase after him in high school?"

"Do you remember in high school when they used to fight with each other all the time? That was actually flirting. It wasn't until college that they were able to move past that."

"So this is the guy we are playing against Thursday?" Asked one of his less prick teammates.

"He will be on the court even if he doesn't want to be there. The only reason why he still on the team is Sharpay. Chad's more interested in designing the next basketball videogame than actually benign in the NBA." For some reason as soon as he said that James seemed really happy.

**January 12, 2009 7:10 AM**

Sharpay Evans was in a good mood when she walked in to the East High campus at a very early time. She wondered how she could ever get up this early for four years. She didn't want to leave the bed this morning. Although that may have something to do with the fact that Chad was with her. They stayed in the guest room at Kim's house again last night so they could have time together without the evil RA chasing Chad away. The next opportunity will not be until Saturday when they arrived in DC.

Sharpay was so happy that she felt nothing could ruin her mood. However, that was before Kerri walked into the classroom when she was talking to Jack about what students she needed to work with today. Before she even noticed someone else in the room Kerri already had the television on.

"What are you doing in class 15 minutes early and why did you turn the television on?" She asked quickly.

"Tiffany just called. Your mom is about to do an interview on channel 12 about university corruption and the real reason the new basketball start of A of U didn't end up at Stanford."

"Great more lies. Last week she was on channel 9 talking about how dad turned us against her so she wouldn't get her share in the divorce. Do you mind if we watched this? I need to know what she's telling everyone when I get accosted by reporters.

"Go head. It's actually comforting to know that someone's divorce is going worse than mine." Jack said in a way that made her not ask any more questions.

They turned to channel 12 just in time to hear Darby's latest lie. She accused Sharpay's dad of using her as a means to improve his and the university's image. She started with things that were relatively true. She mentioned how her father essentially bride Sharpay to live in the dorms and let him put pictures on the Internet. Of course, with Darby doesn't know the Sharpay didn't accept those rewards.

Then Darby started getting into the truly sordid stuff. She actually accused Sharpay's father of pimping her out to attract the best players to the school. She use the Troy fiasco as evidence to support her lies. Sharpay always knew that act of stupidity would come back to bite her on the ass.

Then Darby mentioned Chad. Her mom when on television and told everybody that Sharpay was only with her fiancé so he would play for A of U. Darby made her sound like a cheap prostitute. The icing on the cake was when the Bitch brought out the financial statements. She tried to frame her engagement ring fun as a bribe. At this point Sharpay had angry tears running down her face.

Darby could say whatever she wanted about Sharpay. She didn't care. Now that she brought Chad into this the gloves were off.

**January 12, 2009 10:01 AM**

Penelope wanted to be anywhere but here today. What exactly do you say to the guy you were in love with for three years after you beat the hell out of him? "Sorry I snapped. Thank you for not pressing charges." "I still love you. Let's be friends." "Never speak to me again you conceded dick."

She tried to ask Amanda about what she should do yesterday on the flight to the game, but it seemed like Amanda was avoiding her and Chad. It wasn't like her and Amanda were best friends. Up until last November they were nothing more than fellow cheerleaders to each other. Their friendship was tenuous at best. So Penelope really didn't think much of it until this moment when she overheard a conversation that she wished she didn't.

"Get the hell away from me." She heard Amanda scream from down the hall.

"Look I just want to talk." She heard Zeke say as he tried to touch Amanda's shoulder but she moved away quickly.

"That's what led to this whole thing in the first place" Amanda said walking away from him.

"No you bringing a bottle of Jack Daniels led to this whole thing."

"Please don't remind me. The whole night was a temporary lapse of good judgment. If you tell anybody what happened I swear to God I will cut off your **Dick**." As Penelope was listening to the conversation she became more confused by the minute

"Trust me I'm not saying a word. Contrary to popular belief I am not a complete ass. Also Troy's wife is too scary to mess with."

"Although my mine is still a little fuzzy because of the high amounts of alcohol that night I am pretty sure I told you that Kim is technically not Troy's wife. But in all honesty their only missing the marriage license at this point."

"She's closer to a wife then a girlfriend. Trust me I remember what you said before you kissed me and preceded to unzip my pants." Oh my god was all Penelope could think.

"Friday night didn't happen. You state on your side the classroom and I will stay on my side of the room."

"Fine have it your way."

"Also don't say anything about this to Penelope. She is my friend and you've already heard her enough." Amanda said as she walks into the classroom.

Penelope wanted to run to the bathroom first to compose herself but knew she didn't have time. Instead she fell back on her years of acting and placed a very fake smile upon her face. She tried to walk past him without making eye contact but she felt a hand grabbed her wrist.

"Can we talk for a minute?"

"Not without me punching you again."

"I'm sorry." He almost sounded sincere.

"Why?" She would say more but she was afraid she would ask the wrong thing. She really wanted to ask if he slept with Amanda Friday night.

"For a lot of things. I made you your favorite cookies."

"A cookie can't fix this. There are enough cookies in America to fix this." Even as she said this she grabbed the cookies from his hand and sat down at her desk. She was too busy enjoying the double chocolate chip cookies to wonder why Chad was not there.

**January 12, 2009 11:52 AM**

Amanda was thankful that there professor let them out early. That was the most uncomfortable class ever. Because Chad never showed up she ended up working with Penelope who for some reason could not look her in the eye. Amanda could not help but wonder if Penelope knew what happened. It felt like she had a giant scarlet letter on her chest.

Halfway through the class from hell she received a text message from Sharpay asking her to meet them at café Valley after class.

As she walked into the café she could tell that Chad and Sharpay were visibly upset.

"What's going on? You never miss class except when we have to leave early for a game." Amanda said as she purposely took a seat next to Sharpay.

"That is not going to be a problem since I've just been suspended from the team." Amanda was completely shocked by what he said. How could he do anything to get suspended from the basketball team? She doubted that it was academic considering he had a 3.9 GPA last semester.

"What happened? How could you be suspended from the team? This doesn't have anything to do with Richard's uncle does it?"

"I'm guessing you don't watch Good Morning Albuquerque." Sharpay said quietly.

"I was too busy doing my chemistry reading. Thank god I don't have any classes that require heavy writing this semester."

"The woman, I will from now on only refer to as an egg donor, went on local television and accuse my father of using me to get Chad to go to school here. At the same time, two separate individuals contacted the NCAA questioning Chad's eligibility to play."

"I'm on suspension until the investigation is concluded."

"How can anybody think that? You two are completely in love with each other." Amanda knows that they are so in love that she won't even try to make a move on Chad. It would just result in the end of their friendship.

"Anybody who knew us in high school thought that we hated each other. A lot of them are having a hard time believing that we really love each other." Chad said caressing Sharpay's hand.

"Zeke doesn't."

"That's probably because he's seen me jump her." Chad said with a wicked smirk. Even in a crisis he was still making jokes.

**January 13, 2009 7:01 AM**

Her investigators work fast. Although it probably helps that her mother's financial records have already been examines with a fine tooth comb by forensic accountants. They didn't think anything of several big donations to colleges. It didn't seem that unusual that she made a donation of $250,000 to the University of Manhattan, $250,000 to Juilliard, or $600,000 to the University of Berkeley. Not until she told the investigators about the conversation she had with Lucy Saturday.

It wasn't that unusual for a family in Kim's tax bracket to make large donations to various charities and funds. Last month Kim herself gave away four million dollars to various charities supporting teen mothers and runaways. In light of the new information the investigators were going over everything again. Now she had to tell Troy that it was possible that their mothers conspired to get him at Berkeley by very illegal means.

She decided to wait until morning to tell him. There are too many things going on the night before with the reporter stalking Chad and Sharpay. Chad and Troy needed friend time.

Just when she thinks Darby can't get any eviler she does something that surprises everyone. So at 7:00 AM her time she calls Troy after she drops Alex off at day care early.

"I shouldn't be that surprised. I did not even decide to go to Berkeley until May. James always made snide comments about how I took his friend's place on the team. I did not originally apply to Berkeley. I guess I didn't think that much of it because I did not applied to Juilliard either." She can hear the tension in Troy's voice.

"Juilliard was Miss Darbus trying to get you and me in the same city. She filled out an application on your behalf for the University of Manhattan but mommy dearest got to them first. I should be happy that she never bribed them to get my scholarship taken away." Kim said bitterly.

"God I can't believe my mom would do this. Oh, yes I can. "

"My mom was pulling strings. Although maybe we should be happy that my mom isn't big on public humiliation. Darby stunt yesterday is going to be legendary."

"If the story didn't make the national news I would already know about it anyway. At practice yesterday all of my teammates were celebrating the fact that one of the better players at A of U is suspended. How is he really taking it? If this happened last year he would be devastated. Something didn't sound right last night."

"Last year he still loved basketball. He's more pissed off about Darby dragging Sharpay's name through the mud. He could care less about playing and you know this. The reporters are already stalking them again. I said they could stay here for the next few days until things die down. After last month most reporters in this town known not to come anywhere near my property."

"There already stocking. He didn't mention that."

"This is already the biggest story in Albuquerque which is saying something considering what happened last month. I still think Richard or his uncle had something to do with this. I heard from an unknown source that the second tip was about how Chad was only on the team because of his girlfriend."

"What did the other person state specifically?"

"The only reason why Chad was still on the team was Sharpay."

"I knew James was being too smug about this. This is all my fault."

"You did not make the phone call. How can it be your fault?"

"I had some friends over to the house Sunday and I said something very close to that."

"What he said was the truth. Chad is only playing because a Sharpay support not because she spreads her legs for him. By the traditional definition of sex, that has not occurred yet. I did walking on something interesting this morning in the bathroom."

"You are going to have to work on knocking."

"That was not my fault. I forgot I had visitors."

**January 13, 2009 9:23 PM**

It's been a very rough day since Darby's little stunt. Darby's accusations have triggered the biggest scandal In Albuquerque in years. That's saying something after the thanksgiving incident. She and the rest of the cheerleaders had been followed by reporters since the story broke. Because she was Sharpay's former roommate and a friend of both Chad and Sharpay the reporters were stalking her the most. If one more person asked her about Sharpay's sexual activities she was going to throw her shoe at them.

Sharpay gave them all specific instructions not to engage the reporters or give Darby any more momentum. The only good thing going for her at the moment was Zeke was keeping his distance. Whatever Kim said must have worked or at least she thought it did until 30 seconds ago when the boy in question called her.

"How did you get this phone number?" Amanda asked Zeke as she talked on her dorm room telephone.

"Do you know that the University list the phone numbers of all students on the Internet?" Zeke said innocently in a way that annoyed her.

"Don't they realize how dangerous that could be? For example some girl could accidentally sleep with the wrong guy at a party and then he could start stocking her."

"You want me to stay away? Fine I am staying away. That's not why I'm calling."

"If this was a web chat you could see me rolling my eyes."

"I just want to know why I'm being followed around by reporters."

"You sure this is not an excuse to talk to me? I mean you are watching the news right? Sharpay's so call mother is dragging her through the mud and everyone else is trying to find extra mud puddles."

"Don't flatter yourself. Considering the type of questions that they're asking me I feel like I'm missing something. I haven't been here for the last six months and I need to know what's going on. You're the only person I know that knows what is going on and doesn't hate me."

"I don't think the reporters care that much about the present. The vultures are looking for dirt anyway they can find it. They are following you around because you went to high school with both of them and you hate Chad and Sharpay at the moment."

"I don't hate Sharpay and I don't hate Chad. It's the other way around."

"I wonder why. Let's see you dated her and Penelope at the same time."

"I agree that was a stupid decision and I will be making Penelope cookies for the rest of the semester as penance."

"Cookies don't mend a broken heart." Amanda said with a touch of bitterness.

"So I heard. So what other sins have I committed against your friends that makes you hate me without really knowing me."

"You broke up with Sharpay because she wouldn't have sex with you."

"No I broke up with her because she didn't trust me enough to have sex with me. There is a difference. She kept me at arm's length for the entire duration of our relationship."

"Of course she didn't trust you. You were sleeping with someone else. There was also the fact you abandon her after she had a panic attacked on prom night."

"What are you talking about?" Zeke asked in genuine surprise.

"She was having flashbacks to what happened with her ex boyfriend." Amanda said quietly.

"She never said anything. She was too busy chasing after Troy to let me in. Although thinking about it now she was also too busy arguing/flirting with Chad to let me in.

"You need to work through your Troy Bolton issues. Trust me this has nothing to do with Troy and everything to do with Richard. Do you really expect Sharpay to leave herself open to you after your predecessor raped her?" After she said the words, you could hear a pin drop on the other side of the line.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Zeke asked again in complete surprise. Considering they were positive he was conspiring with Richard's uncle this seemed unusual. Why would he be so shocked if he was working with them?

"Don't you dare act so innocent. You came back here when Penelope and Sharpay are preparing to testify against Richard. So how much did Mr. Windom offer you to come terrorize the two girls?"

"Do you really think that little of me?" She can actually hear genuine concern in his voice. She didn't know what to think of it.

"I really don't know what to think of you. I've heard stories about how you were such an evil bastard in high school and then I see what you did to two of my friends. I also heard about that phone call you had with Chad last September."

"Guys do that sort of thing. It doesn't mean anything."

"So you told all your friends about how you fucked me this weekend?"

"We had sex. We didn't fuck. There is a difference. No, I didn't tell anybody. I told you I wouldn't say anything."

"I should be happy that I received more courtesy then Penelope."

"I never told anybody about what I did with Penelope either."

"You were ashamed of her. Of course, you had no trouble bragging about it to Chad after high school was over."

"I thought we already went over that point. He already knew before I told him."

"Not to my satisfaction." She said angrily.

"Are you ever satisfied?" She can hear the annoyance in his voice as he said the words.

"Not really."

"Just tell me what's going on?"

"You really don't know about Richard?"

"You're talking about the stupid prick Sharpay dated sophomore year. He was sleeping with other girls. He was such an ass. I remember him bragging about "popping Sharpay's cherry" at the spring dance sophomore year." She doubted that Zeke knew the truth of that story.

"You cheated on Sharpay as well. Why do you find his behavior so reprehensible?"

"I slept with one other person." Zeke said in his defense.

"That's one too many."

"I stand by my argument that you can't be an an exclusive relationship with somebody who's already in love with someone else."

"So it was the other way around. You cheated on Penelope with Sharpay."

"Fine if it will make you hate me less, I cheated on Penelope with Sharpay. As stated earlier it was a mistake. Again I would like to argue it was only one person within the confines of a very complicated relationship on both sides. While dating Sharpay in a normal relationship, Richard slept with six cheerleaders, three members of the tennis team, two members of the academic decathlon team, and one other person from the drama club. Those are only the girls he slept with at East High. Who knows who else he was screwing."

"I wonder how many of those girls were actually willing to sleep with him." Amanda said softly into the phone.

"You are not telling me something."

"It's a complicated story."

"We have time. Besides I like it when you talk to me when you are not trying to kill me." She laughed for a moment before going into a story that was anything but happy.

"Remember when you said he was bragging about popping Sharpay's cherry. Ghb was involved."

"I am going to kill that fucking prick."

"Wait until you hear about what he did to your other ex girlfriend."

**January 14, 2009 8:03 AM**

Even though Mr. Windom didn't start the rumor, he was using it to his full advantage. In addition to Chad's indefinite suspension from the basketball team, he was pushing for her dad's resignation from the Board of Directors at the university. All of her dad so-called friends were supporting Mr. Windom. After the rumors are proven false just the impression of impropriety maybe too much.

Except to go to classes, she and Chad had been avoiding campus. This morning she was missing her time at East High so she could talk with one of the investigators. Between the private investigators hired by her father, the investigators hired by Kim and the investigators for the university she wasn't even sure who was asking her questions at the moment.

"Say your name for the record." The investigator Miss Gonzalez said as she turned on the recording device.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes it is."

"My name is Sharpay Evans. Contrary to what my mom believes I cannot wait until my last name is Evans-Danforth."

"So her allegations are false?"

"Yes. I love Chad and my mom can't deal with that. She will do anything to hurt me."

"Can you please elaborate?"

"My mom is the one who likes to use her children as props. My dad does it on occasion, but I'm always well compensated. However he would never use me to attract players to the team. Chad has been planning on going to this school since he was a little kid."

"Your boyfriend is smart enough to go to any school in the country. Why did he come here?"

"There were a lot of reasons why Chad didn't want to go to the Ivy League schools. He wasn't comfortable with his intelligence in high school. His mom made some bad choices because she was too young to start college at 14. Now that he's more comfortable with what truly is we're looking at different schools for next year." The investigator look surprise to hear that.

"He's not planning on staying here next year?"

"It's possible. I've changed majors and the school doesn't have the best writing program. Also some of his classes are boring Chad to tears. We both need more of a challenge."

"Your father is not talking you out of this?"

"He's the one who offered to pay for Chad to go to any school I go to if he's not able to get another scholarship. Like that is going to Happen, but it's a great gesture. My dad is trying to make up for some of the things my mom did. You've seen the allegations of child abuse and neglect. Now those are all true. Where were you when she was beating the hell out of me? Where were you when I was walking around with bruises that no one paid attention to?" Sharpay said in an angry voice.

Just as the investigator began to ask her more question she heard the phone ringing. She looked in her bag only to realize it was Kim's phone. Alex must have hid Kim's phone again in her bag. She looked down at the screen and saw that it was Troy calling. It must be important for him to call Kim in class.

"Why am I not surprise. I need to take this call."

"Go ahead." The investigator said with a nod.

"Hi Troy,"

"Why are you picking up my girlfriend cell phone? I thought we already broke you of that habit."

"You're adorable son decided to hide her phone in my purse. She probably doesn't even know that she doesn't have it."

"That explains why the private investigator called me at 6:00 AM." Troy said in irritation

"So did her mom really buy you a spot at Berkeley?" "Yes and it only cost her $1,000,000." Troy said sarcastically but she knew the dollar amount was right.

"She paid $1,000,000 to get you safely tucked away at another school away from Kim and Alex. God that woman is crazy and I thought Darby was nuts."

"This is such a mess. Can you have Kim call me as soon as possible?"

"You probably should just send Chad a text message. They're both in physics class right now. I'll talk to you later. " Sharpay said as she ended the call.

"Sorry that was my friend's boyfriend/husband/whatever. He wouldn't call this early if it was not an emergency."

"That's okay. I assume that that was Troy Bolton you were talking to."

"If he is one of the people you need to interrogate, you'll have to wait until tomorrow when he arrives for the Berkeley A of U game. That is if he's still on the team. He's almost positive one of his teammates sent in another tip just to keep Chad from playing tomorrow night."

"That's okay I think we're done for now. If I have any more questions I will let you know."

**January 14, 2009 10:04 AM**

Penelope was not in a good mood. It didn't help that reporters kept calling the dorm room so much that she had to unplug the phone in the room and take the batteries out of her cell phone. She was going to kill whoever gave her private phone number to the reporters. It was probably one of her so-called teammates that have been selling out Chad and Sharpay to the highest bidder. Even though Chad was starting to become a friend to her, Sharpay and she were two people who lived in the same room. She may have hated Sharpay once upon a time, but she wasn't going to drag her name through the mud.

She ran through the cluster of reporters trying to talk to her. She's pretty sure she flipped two of them off. She doesn't really care. It wasn't like she was going to run for public office someday. Amanda was right behind her telling some reporter to go to hell. She has decided not to question Amanda about what happened with her and Zeke at the party last Friday. There are just some things you don't want to know. Confirming that said friend got so drunk that she fuck your ex boyfriend is one of those things.

"They are worse than last time." Amanda said in irritation as soon as they were safely in the building.

"You went through this before?" Penelope asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately yes. Last month when Troy's mom was arrested for tax evasion and Kim's mom became a fugitive. Alex is the only two year old I know that can speak the phrase "no comment" perfectly." Amanda said as they walked into the classroom.

"She saw another bag of cookies on her desk. She knew they were from Zeke even without looking at the bag. Attached was a little note that said "I'm sorry".

Before she had time to really think about it she saw Chad come into the classroom. One actually followed him into the building. The professor was currently kicking the person out of the classroom.

**January 15, 2009 7:47 AM Pacific time**

Troy's seriously wondered why he even bother coming to class Today as he pulled into the commuter parking lot in the BMW that Kim bought him for Christmas. He would be leaving for Albuquerque in a couple of hours anyway. Most of the classes were reviewing previous material or allowing student time to buy their books. But because he wouldn't be returning to class until late Wednesday he felt he should at least find somebody to copy notes from next week."

He was happy at the moment because only a few of the student reporters for the school paper were following him around about the Chad/A of U scandal. Nobody knew yet that his son's grandmother bought his acceptance into the school because she hated them so much. Maybe it was because she did hate her daughter so much. Troy will never understand that evil woman who tried to kill his son.

He and Kim talked a lot about what was happening. He was hurt, angry, and felt like he did not even deserve to be here. Maybe James was right and he really did take some other students place. It was actually his hour-long conversation with Chad last night that broken out of that mindset. "Kim's mom had to pay just as much money to keep you out of Juilliard and the University of Manhattan. I'm sure Berkeley wanted you anyway. ."

Troy tried to keep Chad's words in his mind that morning as he walked to his English class which was ironically enough in the building by the coaches' offices. The first thing he sees is several campus police car surrounding the building with representatives from other law enforcement agencies. He asks one of the students talking on their cell phone what was going on. The girl just shrugs and continues to talk on her phone.

He should probably go into the building but he doesn't because he's a bit early and wants to know what's happening. His curiosity is satisfied when he sees his basketball coach being led out of the building in handcuffs. An hour later he gets a phone call from the office of student ethics. By the time he gets on a plane for Albuquerque he is suspended from the basketball team indefinitely and he doesn't care.

**January 15, 2009 12:15 PM**

Chad sat in the parking lot outside the sport complex for a moment trying to regain his breath. Chad just survived a very uncomfortable women's studies class. It was better than Tuesday's impromptu discussion of prostitution and the subjugation of women in modern society.

He expected to be bombarded by reporters as he walked to the coach's office. Thanks to his best friend he was already yesterday's news. They were already refer to as the story as the love and basketball scandal. He already saw the footage of the Berkeley coach being hauled off by police. There may not even be a Berkeley/A of U game tonight.

As he made his way through the hallway, he thought about the call he had with Troy last night. They spent a lot of time talking about the way things used to be before basketball was about championships in winning games. They talked about when it was just the two of them on a court having fun. Chad miss those days.

"Chad what are you doing here? You do realize what suspension means right? The investigation will be over soon enough. You will be back in a red hawk's jersey before you know it."

"It doesn't matter. I quit." There was complete silence at that moment.

"What about your scholarship? You are the best player on the team. You know that what she said was completely false."

"First of all I'm on an academic scholarship. That stuff about me being able to go to an Ivy League school if I wanted to is true. It is also true that I was only playing for Sharpay. If it wasn't for her support I would acquit the second week of the season. I just don't want to play anymore. Not after the last few days." With that Chad walked out of the office completely aware that his basketball days were behind him.

**January 15, 2009 4:26 PM**

"What are you doing here?" Sharpay asked as she saw Zeke standing outside of her building. She was only hear the pickup her thing for DC.

"I thought we could talk. After the week you had I figured you could use my signature dessert." she was mad at him but she missed his baked goods.

"Good apology present."

"I guess I should say I am sorry."

"Now if only I knew what you are apologizing for. I'm sure most of your guilt is related to use sleeping with Penelope for the entire duration of our relationship."

"I'm sorry about that but I think in most sorry about the fact that we were together for a year and ½ and the only thing I know about you is your favorite dessert. We never talked about your Troy crush. We never talked about why you tensed up if I even placed a hand anywhere near your breast. We never talked about why you started throwing up on the way to prom. I didn't know about Darby."

"Nobody knew about Darby but Kim." Sharpay said in a whisper.

"Chad knew."

"That's different."

"He knows because you love him. Because you trust him in a way you could never trust me."

"I had a reason not to trust you."

"I only stayed with Penelope because I could never get you to open up. You would not even admit that we were dating until the beginning of senior year. I always blamed it on Troy. Now I know better."

"There's a lot of things that we both did wrong. But it's too late to do anything."Sharpay said as she played with her engagement ring.

"Trust me I'm fully aware of that. I wish nothing but happiness and maybe the chance to design the wedding cake."

"I'll think about it." That was all she said as she walked into the building leaving Zeke behind.

**January 14, 2009 4:55 PM.**

When he was little, he had this fantasy of growing up to be a professional basketball player. He imagined walking through airports with reporters following his every move. As he walked through the Albuquerque Airport followed by reporters he realized how stupid that fantasy was.

He saw Sharpay and Chad's car in the parking lot with Chad and the driver's seat. He quickly jumped in the backseat with Alex.

"So how was your day? Chad asked as soon as Troy put on his seat belt.

"That is a loaded question."

"Are you disappointed that we're not going to play each other tonight?"

"Not really. I say we take Alex to pizza village and avoid ESPN at any cost."

"Works for me." Chad said as they pulled away from the Airport.

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A/N: My niece actually does the thing with the cell phone that Alex did in this chapter.


	31. Hope, Fear, and Change: Part I

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. A special thank you to Kimmie-Reivers for pre reading this chapter.

In all honesty, this chapter got out of control. Once I realized the chapter was going to be nearly 20,000 words I decided to divided it into two parts.

Warning/Spoilers: sexual content, mentions of sexual assault, and harsh language.

Disclaimer: I don't own high school musical. If I did, the Officer Chad sequence would not have been a fantasy. Although I should be thankful for the writers putting in subtext that only the older fans can pick up on.

This chapter depicts a historical event in a fictitious way. The author of this story does not endorse one political party over another.

**Chapter 31: ****Hope, Fear, and Change: Part I**

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January 20, 2009

The First thing he notices once he was inside her was how hot she was. The second thing he notices was how he fit perfectly inside her. The third thing he realizes was everything he read on this left his mind. He was running on instincts since the moment Sharpay sank down on him. The fourth thing he realizes as his mouth meets hers in a searing kiss was that he will never love anyone else like this.

The sixth thing he realizes as they met each other's thrust was that she was the only person he could be like this with. At that moment, Chad Danforth realized that Sharpay Evans soon to be Sharpay Evans-Danforth was the only woman he will ever be able to make love to. As he came, he realizes that was perfectly fine with him.

**January 7, 2009 5:15 PM**

Chad appreciated the irony that he was an 18 year old virgin (technically, despite what Troy says) going to sex counseling with his girlfriend/fiancée. They were not actually seen a sex therapist but rather Sharpay's normal psychologist. Was it really his fault that his girlfriend was absolutely terrified of vaginal intercourse /penetration? He blamed Richard.

If he could go back in time and change one thing, he would have knocked Richard unconscious the night of the spring dance sophomore year. Actually, he would have started dating Sharpay sophomore year before Richard even showed up at their school.

Chad was not here just for the sake of getting laid. Honestly, he didn't care. Okay he cared, but he cared about Sharpay more. Sharpay meant more to him than sex or anything else. This is why he was talking to a woman he barely knows about having sex with his girlfriend in all its various forms. The real reason why he was here was he was worried about what happened on their birthday.

"When you do other things are you able to achieve orgasm?" That comment by the doctor broke Chad out of his musings. He knew the therapist was going to get personal but this was a little much. This is like his mom asking him that question.

"Yes." Chad said emphatically without even thinking.

"Actually, I was asking her. You have no idea how many people believe their partner has achieved orgasm when they have not." The doctor said to him smugly as if she was trying to purposely deflate Chad's ego. It didn't work because Chad knew better. He knew Sharpay came every time she screamed his name as he felt her pulse around his fingers.

"My brother had that problem with his last girlfriend. He knew the entire time. She was never able to perfect her "poker face". It turned out she preferred girls." Chad couldn't believe Sharpay shared that bit of information. Although he still laughed.

"You and Ryan share too much. Please tell me you don't have those sorts of conversations with your brother?" In his mind Chad was picturing Ryan and Sharpay comparing sex stories over facials. That thought scared him.

"I only know about the Kelsey orgasm thing because they decided to discuss that very personal subject in front of a theater filled with high school students and your future stepfather. I told you this story before." Sharpay said as she squeezed his hand a little forcefully.

"I was more focused on the fact that you found out your brother kissed me that one time." At that moment, the therapist looked at him and Sharpay as if they were both crazy. "Before you ask, I'm Sharpaysexual. Everybody else is irrelevant." Chad said giving Sharpay a kiss on the cheek to reassure her. As he passes back by her ear he whispers, "I love you" just loud enough for her to hear.

"I wasn't going to ask. I would like an answer to my original question though." The therapist looks almost impatient as she jotted something down in her notebook.

"Yes I have achieved orgasm, multiple times. I've even achieved a multiple orgasm before." A very self satisfied smile crossed Chad's face. Yes, he is that good. "Oh please stop smiling you're not that good." She said in a way that made him know that she was definitely lying.

"Oh come on you know I am." Chad said as he reached over to kiss her again. Maybe the intensity of their kiss is a bit too vigorous considering technically they are in therapy. He probably shouldn't be touching Sharpay like that right now. Chad is aware that he's going to be sitting for the rest of the session with his legs crossed thinking about very uncomfortable things like what Mr. Evans will do to him if he ever got Sharpay pregnant unintentionally. Yet Chad didn't pull away until the therapists physically broke them apart. The woman actually got out of her chair and pushed Sharpay and him to their own parts of the couch.

"As much as it makes me happy to see that you two have a very "healthy" relationship, please refrain from that sort of thing until after the session." She says this with a laugh as she goes back to her seat. "I can also see that the encounter has left you very aroused." That is a good sign." At that point Chad wondered if he will die of embarrassment before the session is over. There are some things you do not want to share with your doctor.

"Of course," Sharpay said quickly as her breathing returned to normal. She is still blushing and he enjoys the fact that he can make her like this by just kissing.

"Sorry about that." Chad said as he started wishing the session will end as soon as possible. He starts to wonder how far they can go in the car in the student parking lot without getting caught. Then he realizes that knowing their luck, the RA from hell will catch them at the crucial moment.

"Don't worry about it. At least I now know you two do not have a severe intimacy problem. The fact that you have no problem achieving an orgasm should be seen as a good thing. Many women, who have undergone similar experiences as you, are unable to achieve orgasm with the next partner. My question to you is why are you here? If what I saw was normal for you and Chad, I don't see a problem here."

"Actually that was a little tame for us." Sharpay said In a whisper. The doctor opened her mouth in shock. At this point Chad decides to take over.

"For some reason she decided that she had to have sex with me on our birthday to prove that she loves me."

"That's not why, even though I do love you. At the moment I am starting to wonder why I love you." Sharpay said angrily to him as she gave him her very sexy death glare.

"I have told her hundreds of times that I don't need it. It would be fine if she was ready but she wasn't. To get herself in the "mood" she drank almost an entire bottle of really good French champagne. This resulted in her trying to give me a very drunk BJ in an elevator at the resort. When we talked about what happened the next morning I found out that she had to get herself drunk to give me a hand job for the first time." A touch of anger infiltrated his voice as he explained what happened to the therapist. Sharpay sank down into the couch for a moment until the anger kicked back in.

"I was not drunk in November. I had two glasses of wine the day I gave you your first hand job. Also if you remember that was during the thanksgiving incident. I told you I was just buzz enough not to be scared." Sharpay said folding her arms over her chest defensively.

"I don't want you to do anything you're not ready for." He said to her as he tried to grab her hand again. She let him take it this time.

"Just because I was scared doesn't mean I'm not ready. I'm always going to be scared. You need to remember it's not about you. I'm not scared of you. I trust you more than anyone else." Sharpay said giving him a very light kiss that fortunately didn't get out a hand again.

"I don't even know why you two are here." The doctor mumbled under her breath just loud enough for her and him to hear.

"What?" Both he and Sharpay said simultaneously.

"What I mean is that the two of you obviously don't have a communication problem. Most couples I work with don't talk to each other like this. You two had an honest dialogue before coming in here right?" She asked both of them.

"Yes," both he and Sharpay answered her in unison.

"I'm worried about Sharpay using alcohol as a coping mechanism. Sharpay's mom Darby has a drinking problem. That sort of thing is genetic." Chad said finely confessing the real reason why he was so upset.

"I just don't want to feel scared anymore." Sharpay said in the near whisper.

"Fear is healthy. The fear itself is not the problem. It's how you deal with that fear. Drinking is not a healthy way to deal. My recommendation to the two of you is to work on your issues with each other. I think it's best if you try little things to work your way up to the major activity. I can give you some specific exercises to try."

"I don't think he needs any ideas. I've seen his collection. He probably has more books on sex than you do." She said with a wicked smirk.

"You should be happy my ability to learn anything from reading a book applies to _everything_."

**January 17, 2009 1:15 PM Eastern Standard Time **

"Did I ever mention before how perfect your timing is?" She heard Chad asks her as he grabbed his luggage from the carousel. It was good timing. They've only been in Reagan National for a few minutes and she was already feeling better. At least no one was following them around at the moment. There was no way she wanted to be in New Mexico right now. The circus has increased due to the "love and basketball" scandal and her father's resignation yesterday.

"DC is the only place right now we can be without being surrounded by reporters. Everyone here is too busy covering the Inauguration to care about a major college recruiting scandal." Kim said picking up Alex from the floor. She was probably worried that he would run around the Airport.

She, Kim, and Troy were trying not to talk about what happened with their evil moms this week. Kim was pissed that Troy got suspended even though he had no idea that the grandmother of his son paid for him to go to Berkeley. On the other hand, Chad was happy he had a good reason to quit the team. She has known for a while that he was miserable there. She was happy that they wouldn't have to worry about away games anymore. Maybe it is true that no matter how bad the situation is there is always a silver lining.

Chad's father did not see anything good in the current situation. The man who has been ignoring all of his children since November called six times since ESPN reported that Chad quit the team Thursday. Chad's essential response to his father was, "Go fuck yourself you absent minded prick. Is basketball all you really care about you fucking ass ho? Now you care? Fuck you."

Chad hasn't been able to make it through one conversation with his dad without curse words coming out because he is mad at him. It is starting to look more likely that Chad will be changing his name to just Evans after the wedding. Maybe if Chad's mom does marry Jack they can get away with Bolton as a last name. She didn't exactly want to keep the name Evans either. It seems like both last names come with their own baggage.

"I thought it was a fundraising scandal?" Marc whispered just loud enough for Sharpay to be brought out of her thoughts.

"This was a lot of difference scandals rolled up into one big scandal. My family is crazy like that. Too bad my mom is probably hiding out at some luxury hotel in China." Kim said as they made their way by a lounge that had the story on every channel.

"My mom is just evil and enjoys the attention. She is definitely enjoying the carnage from her new condo." She said to everyone as she felt Chad give her hand a little squeeze. She felt guilty. It felt like basketball along with his anonymity was another thing he was sacrificing to be with her. Sometimes she wished her life wasn't so complicated. She feels as if all of her baggage was bringing him down as well.

"I don't think that DC was far enough. The scandal is still on the news here." Amanda said pointing to the television screens. They were currently playing the clip of her father resigning from the Board of Directors yesterday. At least they were not showing Darby's smug post resignation interview. Just when she thinks she couldn't hate that woman anymore then she already did, she does something to top herself.

"You can't run away from something like this. You can only lay low for a while. That's why I decided to come with you. Even I'm tired of saying no comment." Jack said taking Alex from Kim.

"Are you sure you're not here just to see your girlfriend? I know you're not planning on seeing us at all this weekend once you get to her apartment." Troy said trying to suppress a smirk. Amanda started laughing hysterically.

"Even though you're 18 and have your own child, I can still punish you." Jack said looking directly at Troy. She laughed when she saw Troy shudder a little.

"You have to teach me how to do that with Alex. You don't have to punish Troy; I will do it for you. No more teasing your father otherwise you are sleeping on the couch." Kim told Troy as she turned around to stare directly at him. When Kim says "you are sleeping on the couch" it was code for "the only action you'll be getting tonight is from your hand." Sharpay could hear her boyfriend cracking up beside her.

"You make remarks like that all the time." Troy said in annoyance as they kept walking.

"The last time I said something like that you gave me the same threat. You know what they say, "what goes around comes around" lover." Troy and Kim kept arguing back and forth until they made it outside of the Airport. Although, is it really arguing when the two parties keep kissing each other the entire time?

When they made it outside to the cell phone waiting area Sharpay was expecting to see a limo there to pick them up. Instead, she found herself dragged against her will to the Metro station.

"Why are we not taking a limo?" She asked as they walked into the station.

"Because I forgot to book the limo two months in advance and everything is booked solid this weekend. I might be wealthy but even I can't compete against Beyoncé and her husband. Besides Pentagon Gardens is only two stops away at the Pentagon City metro station. The hotel is directly above. We don't even have to go outside if we don't want to.

"I can't believe you're making me do this. I just hope nobody sneezes on me again. On the plane we ended up sitting next to this woman who coughed on me the entire time. Why were we not in first class?" She said in a whiny voice.

The flight here was its own special brand of torture. The suffering began before they even left for the Airport. After the Berkeley part of the scandal broke, the reporters were camping out at Kim's house again despite the threats of lawsuits and restraining orders. There is nothing like dragging your suitcases through a dozen psychotic reporters asking invasive questions at 3:00 AM to make you completely miserable. Ironically enough her iPhone was playing Michael Jackson's _Leave Me Alone_ at that very moment.

The second annoyance was they had to fly **economy**. Sharpay has never flown economy before nor will she ever again. She was perfectly okay with Chad being so close to her. She was not okay with being close to the woman sitting next to her who didn't know how to cough into a tissue. Sharpay is pretty sure she went through half a bottle of hand sanitizer during the course of the 7 hour flight. Too bad she didn't think to bring a mask.

Of course the worst part of the flight here was the fact that every TV on the plane was turned to ESPN. It took 10 minutes for everyone else to realize that the two college basketball players on the screen were on the plane. After that, the majority of those on the plane asked questions that were beyond invasive. To make the experience even more irritating Chad's father called the moment they had cell phone signal again to yell at Chad about quitting the team. This resulted in Chad cussing his father out in Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese so Alex wouldn't learn any new dirty words. It turns out her boyfriend can actually speak three other languages perfectly. However he can curse in 18 languages.

"I had to change the reservations at the last minute to avoid being stalked by the press. First class and business class was booked solid. You're sounding like a really rich bitch right now. " Her only reaction was to stick out her tongue at Kim. Fortunately, her boyfriend always had her back.

"That's ironic coming from a woman carrying luggage that costs more than most cars." Chad said under his breath as he went to get the metro cards. "It will do you some good to live like a normal person. Besides DC is like New York. According to my mom there are people here who own BMWs and still take the subway to work to their six figure jobs."

"Fine, I will take the subway."She said with a bit of irritation as she gave in. She regretted it once they walked into the crowded subway car with the horrible carpet and the dreadful orange and blue seats.

"At least the cars have more seats than in New York." Kim said as they stepped onto the car.

"Too bad they're all field." Sharpay said sarcastically as she was forced to stand up holding onto her luggage the entire time.

* * *

"Your family owns this?" Amanda asked Kim in surprise as they walked into the lobby of the grand Pentagon Gardens Hotel. The lobby was done in white marble with huge columns and beautiful exotic plants everywhere. The front lobby looked more like an actual garden than anything else. Before they were even halfway into the lobby they had members of the staff grabbing their bags.

"My family owns the majority interest in the parent company. This is one of our 400 luxury hotels worldwide. You are more used to things like the Garden Express." Kim said this as a woman in a beige business suit approached the group.

"Hello Miss Bolton, welcome to Pentagon Gardens at Pentagon City. I hope you and your guests enjoy your stay here. The rest of your party is waiting in the lounge. If you follow me I will show you and your party to your suites."

"Only you, Sharpay would have us stay in a hotel that's connected to a mall." Amanda heard Taylor say as she ran up to the rest of the group. Ryan was following behind her. They got their first because it takes less than 3 hours to get to DC by train.

"This is the closest Garden hotel to where Chad's mom lives. She lives 3 miles away just pass 4 Mile Run in Alexandria. She should be here soon. Give us a few minutes Miss Caramanica, were expecting another person." Kim said to the woman.

"You are looking forward to shopping as much as I am. That's why I love this place. There isn't anything better than a luxury hotel in the middle of an upscale shopping mall. I want to honeymoon here. We're so going shopping after lunch with your mom baby. I just survive the week from hell with my evil mother making accusations about my boyfriend and my father resigning his seat on the university board of directors. I need shopping therapy."

"I still can't believe he did that. Sometimes I think he loves that position more than us." Ryan said in shock as he hugs his sister.

"He was thinking about stepping down anyway since a lot of the company's business is happening in New York now. He also named Kim's dad to head the New Mexico office. You do realize daddy will be coming to see you a lot more now."

"Don't remind me. He's already looking at lofts on the Upper East Side." Ryan said with a groan.

"What about me? I'm the one who quit the basketball team because of the scandal." Chad said with an annoyed tone and Sharpay's signature pout.

"Oh please you were just looking for an excuse to quit the team. You hated it. But since you been such a good boy you can go with me to the giant Alexandria lingerie store in the complex. I'm thinking something nice, naughty, and black for tonight." She could see Ryan making a gagging expression from behind his sister as the conversation took its naturally dirty turned. She was sick as well. She reminded herself again that Chad was off limits.

She distracted herself from the make out session that was obviously occurring in the middle of the lobby by playing with her iPhone that Sharpay gave her after she destroy the other one during the Thanksgiving incident.

She had three missed calls from Zeke, as well as, a text message asking her if she made it to DC okay. So maybe she decided to give him her cell phone number yesterday. It didn't mean anything because she still thinks he is an absolute dick even if the sex was good. Before she could listen to the messages she heard Chad's mom breakup the oblivious couple.

"Can you please not do that sort of thing in public? I'm shocked I don't have a grand baby yet." She said running up to the pair.

"That's because they haven't done anything that could get you a grand baby yet." Marc mumbled under his breath just low enough so she and Taylor could hear.

"I hope that ends Monday. What's the pool up to anyway?" Taylor whispered back to her and Marc.

"Just over $15,000, but it could be higher by Monday." The conversation was interrupted by the sound of Caroline coughing.

"I'm fine. I just have a sinus infection. I've been on antibiotics for a few days so I'm not contagious. You better give your mom a hug." Caroline said as she grabbed her son and then her future daughter in law into a hug.

"What about me?" Amanda heard Jack say from behind his girlfriend.

"You came?" Caroline said in complete surprise. Much like her son, Caroline doesn't really care who was around when it comes to making out with her boyfriend. She actually heard Troy say, "he never kissed mom like that." Amanda is convinced that love will make almost middle aged adults act like horny teenagers. Although maybe it just had something to do with their genetic makeup. Chad and his mom are a lot alike.

"I hope you like your surprise." Kim said as she signaled that they were ready to go upstairs. "On Alex's birthday, I give other people presents. Besides it's not like I'm going to leave the parent I like to the wolves/reporters."

"I can't believe that Lucy actually did that. Then again I can't believe Darby said those nasty things about my baby. I'm already preparing to sue her for defamation in addition to the other lawsuit about the video. Both women are absolutely nuts." Caroline said as they walked to the elevators.

"I can." Troy said as he walked up behind Caroline holding Alex by the hand.

"Hi Graham all," Alex said to Caroline as he grabbed her leg in a cute way.

"I wonder how long it took you to teach him that." Amanda could hear Troy mumbled to his fiancée.

"It only took a week. Besides it's not like he's going to be calling your mom that any time soon." Kim said bitterly as they stepped into the elevator.

The rooms were spectacular. The normal room that she had with Marc, had two comfortable queen size beds and a giant bathtub. There's a giant fruit basket on the table and a fridge stock with all sorts of goodies.

Although Kim and Sharpay's sweets were 100 times better. Complete with king size beds and private Jacuzzis. Unfortunately, Sharpay wasn't that happy when Kim told her who would be sharing the suite with her.

"I thought you were going to have Taylor in the double rooms downstairs. I am not sharing a suite with my brother and his lover. Do you have any idea how loud they are? It was bad enough that time I stayed at the mansion during winter break." Sharpay said in irritation at her best friend.

"Oh I'm sure he's just as loud as you are. "Oh Chad move your tongue right there. Harder --Suck on my -- Oh I'm coming." You two are loud even though you're not having sex sex." Unfortunately for them all Chad's mother happened to hear this entire exchange. She was currently giving her son the glare of death.

"I hate you." Sharpay mumbled under her breath as she slammed the door to the suite.

* * *

After a very uncomfortable conversation with his mother sparked by Kim's very big mouth they were sitting down to lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel. So far this lunch was going pretty well.

Nobody is trying to kill each other. No big family secrets were revealed in the most inappropriate way possible. Bonus points for the fact that the press are not allowed in this restaurant. Most importantly, only one person recognized him and Sharpay from the "fantasy girl" almost sex tape. He really didn't want to get his mom any angrier than she already was.

Super evil Darby decided to provide the networks with a copy of that particular footage. Several "news organizations" opted to show the footage several times before Chad's mom slap them with a cease and desist order stating that Chad was under age at the time.

Chad personally wished the Lava Springs footage was leaked instead. If that footage got out it would be impossible for Darby to hide behind her façade of perfection. Chad personally hopes the bitch chokes on her martini tonight.

The worst thing that happened at lunch so far was the couple next to their party made some snide comment about someone bringing a two year old to a fine restaurant. Kim promptly turned around and told them directly that the evil toddler in question was the heir to the company that owned this entire hotel. The Washington power couple shut up quickly after that tirade.

"I like to thank you for inviting me to come to DC this weekend for the inauguration." Marc said to Sharpay as he took a drink from his soda.

"I don't know why you wanted to come so bad. You're republican Marc. You should have let Nikki come instead. "Amanda said as she took another drink of her water.

"How can you be republican? Your gay, Hispanic, and you voted for OBAMA." Taylor said in absolute shock. Since both are political science majors, they both spent a lot of time together talking politics and philosophy every time they've met in the past. Apparently they never spoke of specific party affiliations.

"First of all orientation or race has nothing to do with political affiliation. You should know better. Second, I am a liberal republican."

"That's an oxymoron," Chad mumbled to himself trying not to laugh.

"Third, I voted for OBAMA because I'm looking forward to the repeal of "Don't ask, don't tell" At that point Marc and Taylor got in a loud debate over party politics.

"See this is why you're not supposed to talk about politics at dinner or lunch." Ryan whispered to Sharpay as his special friend continued arguing with Marc.

So much for a peaceful lunch, Chad thought to himself as he stole a piece of fruit off of Sharpay's plate.

* * *

Caroline spent the afternoon shopping with Sharpay and her son. She would love to spend time with her boyfriend but her son needed her. Jack was staying over for the next three days so she knew she had plenty of time with him. She wished he told her that he was coming. Her apartment was a disaster area. She was not planning on anyone other than Chad and Sharpay coming up and her son was used to her getting so busy that she forgot to clean the apartment.

Chad was quiet during their time at the stores. This was a scary concept because Chad was never quiet. When walking into the various stores they talked about the classes he was taking or the RA that wouldn't let them hold hands without making some snide remark. Basketball was not mentioned once. Actually it was avoided at all cost. They didn't talk about what Darby did or how Charles finally called his son after two months of ignoring him.

They kept the conversation as light as possible as Sharpay practically bought her a new wardrobe. Her future daughter in law was having too much fun playing dress up with her this afternoon. They managed to visit almost every clothing store in the mall including Alexandria lingerie and Dirty Little Secret.

Caroline personally thought that they went into those stores so they could talk about what was really happening. As soon as they step foot in Alexandria lingerie Chad went off to find Troy mumbling something about refusing to go lingerie shopping with his girlfriend when his mom was present. Although maybe he was too embarrassed to deal with her after he had to explain why him and his girlfriend were banned from a particular chain of clothing stores. This was in addition to the conversation they had before lunch when she found out that they were doing everything but traditional sex. She's personally shocked her son doesn't have a public indecency arrest yet.

They were currently looking at edible body paints at Dirty Little Secret as they talked. She tried to repress the fact that she was in an upscale lingerie store/sex shop as she talked to her son's fiancé. But they had a lot to talk about including Chad's father.

She was not surprise that Charles was so upset about Chad leaving basketball behind. He actually called her this morning to see if she could talk some sense into their son. She knew Charles tried to live vicariously through Chad. It probably was killing Charles that his 18 year old son was taking on responsibilities that he himself ran away from. Even though they were no longer forcing him and Sharpay to be Tiffany's birthing coach Chad was still going through with it.

Chad didn't want to be the NBA Star that Charles wanted to be at his age. For once Chad finally wanted to be himself and Caroline was okay with that. Unfortunately Charles was not. However as far as her and her son were concerned he didn't have a say anymore.

"All things considered he's doing well. The basketball thing really is not an issue. We've been talking about it for a while even before Darby's stunt. In a way it's a relief. It wasn't fun anymore for him. He was already planning on not playing next season. He has so many other things to do including helping out Tiffany with the babies and being a professional college student. I think basketball was just another thing adding more stress. He's pissed off that his dad only bother to call to yell at him for quitting the team. He hates Charles more than ever, but then again so do I. He ignores Chad for two months and now he calls."

Nothing Sharpay said really surprised her. The fact that Sharpay feels so strongly about how Chad feels, does surprise her. Unlike Charles, Caroline knew that Chad's basketball obsessed persona was another mask he wore in high school so he could fit in. There's a reason why she refused to let Chad go to school on a basketball scholarship. She knew the moment he was more comfortable with being himself he would stop playing.

What surprised her was the intensity of Sharpay's love for her son. She knew they were young but she also knew that their love was real. The fact that Sharpay didn't run for the hills after the winter break experience meant she was in this for the long haul.

"That's kind of how I expected things to go down. I just don't understand why he won't tell me these things."

"He just does not want you to worry. You're already drafting lawsuits against my egg donor. He wants you to have a good weekend with your boyfriend without worrying about everything else. We'll be okay. We have each other." Caroline was starting to realize how true that statement really was.

She was aware that Chad and Sharpay have got to the stage in their relationship where Chad trusted Sharpay to secrets that he wouldn't even tell her. Caroline never got to that stage of true emotional intimacy with Charles. She was already there with Jack before a physical relationship was even an idea floating around in her head, but that took years of friendship to achieve.

She wasn't worried as long as Chad was talking to someone about what was going on. She was most worried about the fact that Sharpay refer to her mom as an "egg donor". She knew that her son's girlfriend was a lot more damaged then she would let anybody know.

"How are you doing?" Caroline asked her softly as they started looking at some of the specialty items on display.

"I'm fine. Chad doesn't have any unusual food allergies?" Sharpay asked this as she held up a container of chocolate raspberry body paint. By the way she said "I'm fine" Caroline knew Sharpay was anything but fine. The fact that she changed the subject so quickly worried her.

"He has no allergies that I am aware of unless he developed something recently. Although please wait until after I leave the store to buy edible body paint or any other type of pleasure aid." It's hard to think of Chad as her little boy when his girlfriend is picking out naughty outfits or other things. That was something that Caroline did with her boyfriend. She did not want to think about her son doing that sort of thing with Sharpay.

"Fine I won't buy anything right now. I know we told you earlier, but we really are not sleeping together yet." Caroline just gave her a look that said "I know you're lying". Caroline has not believed her son was a virgin since the week before she moved to DC when she found her son giving his then girlfriend a hand job. The comments she overheard from Kim just cemented that fact in her mind.

"I know you think we're lying to you, but it's the truth. We haven't done anything that could get me pregnant. Your son is still a proud member of the V club." For some reason she had a hard time believing that. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she lost her membership to the club around 13.

"Considering what we talked about earlier I find that hard to believe especially with the way you two are around each other." She sees the way they kiss. It is like watching an explosion. Usually she had to physically touch her son to get him out of his Sharpay-induced trance.

"Chad is afraid of ending up like you and Charles." Sharpay confesses to her in a near whisper that she barely hears. "He doesn't want any child of his to feel like some sort of colossal mistake or that they only exist because the condom broke."

"We never…" She cuts herself off midway realizing that's exactly how they made Chad feel as a child.

"That's exactly what you and Charles did to Chad. Chad told me a long time ago that he wasn't going to sleep with anybody unless he could see himself raising a child with that person. Chad's paranoia has reach new levels recently. My crazy fiancée has memorized the failure rates for almost every type of birth control on the market. He wears a condom when I give him a…" She cut Sharpay off not wanting to know any specifics although she gets the ideal.

"I don't need to know. Maybe I should be happy that my son's fears are keeping him from repeating my mistakes. I know that Chad fears aren't the only thing holding you and Chad back."

"What happened with Richard is an issue but we're working through it. I'm fine with everything." Sharpay said this again in a way that left her unsatisfied.

"I don't believe you when you say "I'm fine". You're not okay with Richard and you are not okay with what happened with your mother.

"I'm never going to be okay with what Richard did to me. The best I can hope for is the day to come when I don't flash back to what happened. As for Darby, sometimes I think it was easier when she actually hit me. The physical bruises eventually went away, the psychological wounds seem to linger. How am I supposed to feel when someone who's supposed to love me uses the person I love the most to hurt me? Sometimes I think Darby gets off from the pain that she causes me. Why does my mom hate me?" Caroline did not have an answer for her. Instead of comforting her with words Caroline wrapped the girl who she now sees as a daughter in her arms.

"Baby, I don't know." She ran her hand over Sharpay's brown locks as the fragile girl began to cry. "Let's go back to the hotel." Caroline said slowly pushing Sharpay out of the store. Despite what he told them her son was outside waiting for the two of them.

"What happened? Did you say something to her?" Her son said to her as he took Sharpay into his arms despite the way everybody was looking at them.

"She didn't say anything. Can we just go upstairs for a while? I don't feel like shopping right now." In a very joking way, Chad took one hand and placed it on her forehead.

"Good you don't have a fever." His little joke made her stop crying. This was obviously the point.

"Mom we'll see you later." Chad said giving her a kiss on the cheek before taking his girlfriend back to the hotel.

* * *

"Just so you know my apartment is a disaster." Caroline said to him as they made their way through the green hallways of her complex to her apartment on the third floor.

"Don't worry about it. I'm the one who decided not to let you know that I was coming. This can't be any worse than Kim's house last weekend. I had no idea college students could do that much damage to a house."

"I know Chad sent pictures. We talked about the whole thing with Kim and Troy yesterday and you didn't say anything to me about coming." Caroline said as she ran the digital key across the lock.

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't even decide I was coming until last night anyway. " Jack said as he followed her through the living room to her bedroom. The apartment really wasn't that bad. The living room was fine although the bedroom was messy. Not that he really cared. "Do you like my surprise?" He asked her as he placed his bag at the foot of her bed and kissed her passionately.

"I like your surprise very much. I could use a good surprise after suing Darby multiple times this week for hurting my baby. I know that things are just as bad for you because of Lucy." The situation with his soon to be ex wife was beyond bad. But he did not want to talk about it tonight.

"Guess who called this morning?"

"Chad sperm donor," he refused to refer to his former friend as anything else after what he put Caroline, his son, and Tiffany through.

"You're so good at guessing games. My idiotic ex husband decided to call me for the first time in months in the hope that I would talk some sense into our son. He hasn't called Chad since November. The only contact he's had with Tiffany has been through their lawyers. He found out about Chad quitting basketball on ESPN and now he tries to be a father. What makes the situation even more absurd; he spends a good 15 minutes being upset at me for now dating you "officially." I didn't even know that he knew about us."

"He didn't until I told him yesterday." For a moment Caroline look surprise before she allowed him to continue. "Before he tried calling you he called his son's high school basketball coach in hopes that I could talk Chad into going back to the team. He was shocked when I told him that I thought Chad made the right decision. He got angry when I pointed out to him that Chad and Sharpay were doing more for the two children that he abandoned then he ever did for Chad. He hung up the phone when I pointed out that I was now sleeping with his ex wife."

"That explains so much. I guess he wasn't prepared for your "my son became a parent at 16 because I put too much pressure on him" attitude adjustment. " Caroline said kissing him again. "Can we not talk about my stupid ex or mothers who manipulate their children for sick pleasure for the rest of the night?" At that moment he saw her begin to unbutton his shirt.

"That works for me."

"That reminds me, I picked you up a present after Chad went upstairs with Sharpay. Look inside the bag from DLS." He broke away from her kisses just long enough to look inside. On the top of the bag filled with many fun things was a rather large box with the words Tasty Pleasure Protection written across the top.

"You bought strawberry flavor condoms?" It was the last thing he asked as his girlfriend pulled him onto the bed.

**January 17, 2008 9:45 PM**

An hour after they left Chad's mom, Sharpay was lying down on the giant king size bed completely naked as her boyfriend's talented hands made all her tension go away. Chad had master the art of massage a long time ago even without the edible massage oil.

They were currently alone in the suite because Ryan and Taylor went with Amanda and Marc to Busboys and Poets. It was probably for the best because every time Chad touched her she began to moan in pleasure.

"Now you are more relaxed you can tell me why you walked out of the store crying this afternoon." Of course he would ask her that when she was not in a position to resist him. He was such an evil boyfriend sometimes.

"It was nothing baby. We just started talking about your dad and Darby." She said not wanting to give the complete truth away. Of course, Chad wouldn't just let it go even though she turned around to start kissing him

"That wasn't nothing. Talk of Darby usually makes you angry, not depressed."

"Your right there's more. It's just I don't understand why my mom hates me. Aren't parents supposed to love their children?" At that moment she feels him wrap his arms around her.

"I ask myself that question all the time. I'm sure my father would have been happier if I was never born. I just think some people shouldn't be parents."

"Do you think will be like that? I am extremely self centered sometimes."

"I don't think so. I think someday you'll make a good mom. You are a great mentor to Kerri and Jackie. You actually managed to get the two to have coffee with each other Thursday after the drama club meeting." That in itself had been a miracle, but she didn't see that skill as a prerequisite for being a good parent.

"That's different."

"No it's not. I would be happy to be your fellow co parent many years from now."

"You mean that?" She said with a smile.

"Completely, even though I know you're going to make me have a vasectomy after the first child no matter what you say." At that moment she knew she was ready to be with him completely. She just wasn't sure he was ready yet.

**January 16, 2009 3:35 PM.**

"How do you feel?" The therapist asked Chad as she continued to scribble down notes in her notepad. Chad had no idea how Sharpay convinced him to see the doctor on his own but he's pretty sure it involved waking up this morning to Sharpay's mouth doing very delicious things.

"I'm fine."

"I doubt that."

"I don't want to talk about basketball or what Darby did to Sharpay. I don't want to talk about quitting the team. I definitely don't want to talk about my father and the fact that he decides to call me after months of neglect because I am no longer the person he wants me to be."

"Maybe that's what we should talk about?"

"Let's not. This is only my second time here. I don't feel like getting into my daddy issues right now." Chad was personally not planning on a third session, but he will not tell the doctor that.

"That's fine. You're right. This is only your second session. What do you want to talk about?"

"I'm not sure." He said quietly to the doctor.

"Let's talk about why you were here last time. How are things going with you and Sharpay despite everything going on?"

"Sometimes she's the only thing that makes sense. Things are good with us despite the Darby situation."

"How's your "homework" going?" She asked referring to the intimacy activities that they were working on.

"Quite well," Chad said with a wicked smirk thinking back to this morning. "That might have something to do with the fact that we're staying at my best friend's house."

"Have you two had vaginal intercourse yet?" Now he wanted to sink into the couch.

"Not yet." He said hesitantly.

"Last time we only talked about why Sharpay wasn't ready to have sex yet. We didn't talk about your reasons."

"Do I have to have a completely separate reason?" Chad asked her quietly.

"Not necessarily but I feel that there's something there. I mean there's the fact that you use condoms for certain sexual activities even though you're both clean. She even made a comment last time about your virgin pregnancy phobia. I have a feeling there something else going on."

This time the doctor would not back off until he told her all about the situation with his conception. He also told her of his fear of putting his own child in a situation where they don't feel like their wanted. This actually led to a very long discussion about his daddy issues that he was trying to avoid.

"Your fears are rational. You shouldn't feel pressured to do something you're not ready for. Just because everyone else is having sex doesn't mean you should. Who you have sex with and when you have sex is a personal decision. You could always wait for the wedding. That's what I did, not that I advertised it. ." Chad was shocked at that comment.

"How old were you, if I may ask?"

"I was 25."

"I doubt that's going to happen."

"I've seen you two together. I doubt that it would happen either."

**To be continued in Part II**


	32. Hope, Fear, and Change: Part II

Thank you to Kimmie-Reivers for pre reading this chapter. Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter.

Warning/Spoilers: Explicit sexual content, mentions of sexual assault, and harsh language. If this stuff bothers your conscience don't read.

**This chapter is a heavy ****M****.**

Disclaimer: I don't own high school musical.

**A/N: There's a scene in this chapter that does take place at the Pentagon. This chapter was written before the events at the Pentagon on Thursday, March 4. If you hadn't figured it out already, I actually live in the DC area and I change buses at the Pentagon metro station/transit center every day. Under normal circumstances, I would have been at the transit station when the shooting took place. Instead, I had to work late yesterday (3/4) and was not there. I will never complain about being forced to work late again.**

**I dedicate this chapter ( or at least the parts that can be read at work) to the men and women of the Pentagon Force Protection police who protect me and everyone else who steps foot on the Pentagon installation. Thank you for all you do to protect us.**

**Chapter 32: Hope, Fear, and Change: Part Two**

**January 21, 2009 10:01 AM**

Amanda was currently drinking her third espresso of the morning as she walked into her 10:00 AM acting class. She knew for a fact that Kim and Marc were ditching all their morning classes today. They didn't get to New Mexico until 2:00 AM this morning. She did not get back to the dorms until 3:30. After dealing with away games for the last three months Amanda had gotten good at sleeping on airplanes. Unfortunately, last night every time she tried to fall asleep a certain phone call kept playing over and over in her mind.

This morning she took a seat next to Zeke without even thinking. After yesterday there is no way she was going to sit by Chad. She could not even look him in the eye right now. When she looks at him now, all she can see is the evidence that Sharpay ravished him the day before. She can easily see bite marks and bruises even though Chad is fully clothed. She can't stomach that today.

"I'm actually shocked to see you here." Zeke said to her as she grabbed her notebook out of her bag. She doubted she would need it to take notes, but it gave her something to do when she was ignoring Zeke. "Then again I'm shocked to see him here as well." Zeke said pointing to a just as sleep deprived Chad. He was currently coughing into a tissue. She personally thought that was divine justice for yesterday's antics.

"This class is mostly participation. I cannot afford to miss a class when an away game is not involved. I don't know why you're here Chad considering you're now sick. Which is so your fault. It's not like you are going to be missing any more classes for away games." Amanda said to Chad with a bit of annoyance.

"I thought we agreed not to talk about the basketball thing?" Chad said with a sigh as he placed his head back on the little desk.

"No we agreed not to talk about what we all over heard at Starbucks."

"That wasn't my fault."

"Oh I know it was Marc's fault. I'm currently not speaking to him. "

"What are you two talking about?" Zeke asked the other two.

"No comment," both she and Chad practically screamed in unison. Zeke just looked at her as if she was crazy. For a moment, she wondered if she was. Fortunately Penelope walked into the classroom and hugged Chad.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you and your girlfriend now? Thank you so much." Apparently Penelope had the same reaction as Taylor did to winning almost $8000.

"Why are you so happy?" Zeke asked his ex.

"Thanks to Chad's inability to keep his hands off his girlfriend even when she's sick, I won almost $8000 in the "when will they get it on" betting pool. You will be happy to know that your ex girlfriend got thoroughly fucked yesterday buy a guy who probably knows what he's doing unlike you. Even if I didn't already know I could tell just by looking at Sharpay this morning. She is going to be walking funny for a week. If I knew you were that good, I would have tried harder. Zeke no wonder she never slept with you." Penelope still gave him the death glare even as she took his peace offering of the day. The acting classes have been paying off so far because Chad did not look embarrassed at all.

"I thought things have gotten better between you two?" Amanda asked Zeke.

"She hasn't tried to hit me yet. That's an improvement. It looks like you left something out when you text messaged me this weekend."

"It's a long story." Amanda said with a sigh.

"We have 2 hours."

**January 18, 2009**

They were supposed to be spending the morning museum hopping after they walk across the street to the 911 memorial. In all honesty, Sharpay wanted to go back upstairs and wrap herself in her nice warm boyfriend. She felt horrible. She felt fine last night when she fell asleep after the massage and boyfriend hot tub time.

This morning she woke up sneezing and coughing. It probably didn't help that she woke up several times last night because her brother's girlfriend is a screamer. Sharpay didn't know why they couldn't put Ryan and Taylor in the regular room and put Marc in their suite and Amanda in the suite with Kim and Troy

She doubted that Alex would need to have a king sized bed to himself. Kim and Troy will not be able to keep Alex that far away from the two of them even if she and Troy are in an amorous mood.

Although Chad wasn't coughing like her, he was just as sleep deprived. He let Kim know it as soon as he walked into breakfast that morning.

"Did you have to put us in the same suite as those two? I thought we specifically asked for that not to happen. Couldn't you have put them in the double?" Her boyfriend said to Kim as he sat down across from her in the VIP breakfast lounge.

"Their best friends, but Marc and Amanda are not into sharing a bed. You are going to have to suffer." Sharpay was too busy grabbing her own food to point out the obvious alternative. Fortunately, Chad did it for her.

"You could have put Marc in our room and Amanda in yours. Does Alex really need a king sized bed? I know for a fact that you and Troy hate being away from Alex more than absolutely necessary or in other words except during adult played time. Knowing you two, you're probably just as loud as my ex and my future brother in law." Chad said in irritation as he took a drink of his orange juice.

"Alex doesn't need a room, but I actually do need some sleep. My boyfriend is a little tense after finding out he only got into a school because my mom bribe a lot of people. We need private time to talk and do other things. "

"Most of the time you and him will be doing "other things" Sharpay mumbled under her breath as she saw Ryan walking into the gourmet breakfast area wearing obvious tours regalia. He actually had on an "I love DC" shirt. The sight made her sick again.

"You're going upstairs right now to change. There's no way I am going to be seen with you wearing that."

"You do realize that you and Ryan don't need to wear matching outfits anymore. You have Chad for that now." Taylor said sarcastically. It just so happens that she and Chad were matching today in blue, but that was because they both looked good in that color.

"That's not the point. His outfit screams tourist. You're going to get mugged wearing that."

"We are tourists." Ryan said pointing out the obvious.

"You don't have to be so obvious about it." Sharpay said in irritation before she physically forced Ryan upstairs to change. The action was a little too much and she started coughing again.

After breakfast with everyone, they walked over to the 911 memorial at the Pentagon after Caroline and Jack arrived very late.

It was a very peaceful place. Unfortunately Alex hid underneath one of the benches and Kim got in trouble for taking pictures where she wasn't supposed to.

From the Pentagon they hopped onto the Metro to go into DC. She hated that the seats were this terrible orange color and because of the festivities they ended up standing the entire way. Thankfully, L'Enfant Plaza was the next stop. There was also a beautiful view of the Jefferson memorial from the train.

"There's no way I'm getting off at the Smithsonian during the height of tourist season. This stop is closer to the Air and Space museum anyway." Caroline said as they made their way to the escalators as Kim and Troy tried to find the elevator for the stroller.

"That sounds a little condescending from someone who didn't live here at this time last year." Chad said to his mother with a smile.

"It's not condescending when it's actually printed on the subway map." Caroline said pointing to the map.

"So what museum should we go to first, mom?" They decided to go to a couple of museums in the morning before heading over to the massive free concert by the Lincoln memorial.

"Actually I'm not sure. I've never really gone to any of the museums. I'm too busy with work. Last summer we just never had the time. I heard the museum of the American Indian was pretty good. Too bad you didn't come a couple months ago. They had a really great Jim Henson exhibit at one of the other museums. Alex would have loved that."

In the interest of keeping Alex occupied they went to the Air and Space museum first. Although it seems like her boyfriend was the bigger kid. Chad's inner genius came out when they were there. He was having way too much fun explaining the exhibits to her. She always thought it was sexy when he talks science to her.

It was worse at the Natural History Museum because he was hanging out with Alex and Troy instead of her. Her boyfriend spent an hour running around to various exhibits with Alex and Troy. Half the time it seemed that Troy forgot he was the parent.

Sharpay personally enjoyed the geological exhibits. She spent at least a good 10 minutes wishing the Hope Diamond was in her jewelry collection.

Things were going well until Alex saw the giant _mammoth_ in the center of the museum. He started crying hysterically.

"This is all your fault." Kim hissed at Chad. "You were the one who told my son that was the _mammoth_ from the _Ice Age_ movies."

"He's two years old or he will be tomorrow. He has no idea what I was talking about." Chad said in his defense.

Fortunately she saved her boyfriend from the wrath of Kim by going into another coughing fit. She did the same thing at the Pentagon memorial but she lied to Chad and said it was allergies.

"Okay I know that's not allergies." Chad said placing a hand against her forehead." You're hot and not in the good way." Chad said passing her an overpriced bottle of water.

"I'm fine." She said taking the water from him. Unfortunately she started coughing again.

"No you're not." Chad said stepping away so that his mom could check. She felt Caroline placed a hand on top of her head to see if she was warm as well. It was such a mom thing to do. Darby never did anything like that.

"Chad I think you and your girlfriend should go back to the hotel." Caroline said in her mom voice. Sharpay never heard anybody use a mom voice in relation to her before. In a weird way, it was actually comforting. She tried to argue against it but in the end Chad used her own puppy dog eyes against her."

30 minutes later, she found herself back at the hotel against her will. But she couldn't really complain because she enjoyed a bubble bath with boyfriend pampering. Chad was really good at tucking her into bed.

She was to tire to act on last night's revelation. She also didn't want to get her boyfriend sick. Not that he really cared. Even though she pointed out to him that he would most likely catch whatever she had if he kept kissing her. He ignored her completely. As she fell asleep with her head on Chad stomach she didn't really care that she was missing Beyoncé at the Lincoln memorial.

**January 19, 2009**

"You're sick. I'm not going to go with my mom when you are not feeling well." Chad said to his girlfriend that morning as they were getting breakfast in the VIP lounge.

"I'm not sick." Of course Sharpay started coughing when she said that.

"You woke me up coughing at 2:00 AM, 3:25 AM, 4:56 AM, and 6:18 AM."

"Okay I get the point, I'm sick." Sharpay said with an annoyed little sigh that was interrupted by another cough. "That doesn't mean you should miss out on time with your mom. I will stay here and rest so I'm ready for 7 hours of standing in the cold tomorrow. You should go on and hang out with your mom. It's not like we're going to be able to see a doctor until we get back to New Mexico Wednesday unless I want to go to the emergency room." What his girlfriend didn't know was he already to care that problem.

"Actually your super overprotective boyfriend called me last night. Vanessa's old roommate is a Dr. Who has a practice here in DC and is willing to see a brand new out of state patient on MLK. Her office is off of the Foggy Bottom metro station in DC."

"See now I have a reason to stay with you. I will just call mom to tell her that we're going to the doctor and I can't help her today."

It wasn't that Chad didn't want to spend time with his mom. It was just that every time they were together this weekend, she would start asking questions that he didn't want to answer such as, "How do you feel about your father?" "Are you okay with the twins?" "How serious is your relationship with Sharpay?" That question was a little pointless considering they were already engaged but she asked any way.

The most uncomfortable question of them all was "Are you really okay with me and Jack being together." There's no good way to explain to his mother that the only reason why he's okay with her dating his good father figure was that he wanted Troy as his stepbrother.

It wasn't that he hated Jack. He probably loved him more than his biological father at the moment. Chad was not under the delusion that his parents would get back together someday. They never should've been together in the first place. He just didn't want his mom to get hurt.

Trying to express this to his mom without screaming or resorting to curse words was difficult at the moment. Instead of talking with his mom he was looking for an excuse to avoid her. Unfortunately, Kim and Taylor would not let him.

"Your ex girlfriend was planning on looking at the GW campus anyway. The campus just happens to be adjacent to the doctor's office. She said she would go with Sharpay. In other words, Chad you have no excuse to hide from mommy dearest. Don't worry because you in your mom are going to help me set up a last minute birthday party for Alex today."

"Why are you throwing a birthday party? I thought you refuse to celebrate the day that your mom tried to kill your son." Sharpay asked her best friend.

"Try explaining that to Troy. He's upset because he missed Alex's first birthday party last year. I tried to explain to him that I didn't even have a party. He didn't get it. Also what's the point of setting aside a specific day to buy gifts for your child. Your child should know you love them every day. You have seen my child's toy chest. I'm throwing this party for Troy not Alex, to alleviate the guilt that he shouldn't be feeling. I love him so much that I'm doing something that I really don't want to do just for him. "

At that point Chad really had no choice in the matter. Chad went with his mom to pick up the ice cream cake from them all down the street from his mom's apartment. (Kim refused to put happy birthday on the cake.) He went with his mom and Kim to Party City to pick up balloons and other things. He quietly helped set up everything at the Pizza Village in Old Town. His mom didn't mention his biological father or the seriousness of his relationship with Sharpay as they were driving around the greater Northern Virginia area. She actually avoided any serious conversations until they were actually setting up the party at the restaurant.

"You know I don't consider you a mistake?" Chad dropped the sign that he was putting up when he heard his mom say that.

"What are you talking about mom?"

"Your greatest misconceptions about your existence. Come sit down with me." His mom said pointing to one of the couches at the restaurant. He quickly sat down next to her as she wrapped an arm around him. If the restaurant had been fully operational he would have been completely embarrassed.

"I had this very long conversation with your girlfriend a couple of days ago. You think you only exist because the condom broke. Baby nothing can be further from the truth." Part of him wanted to believe that but inside he knew it was a lie. He remembered all those arguments from when he was a child that he accidentally overheard.

"Don't lie to me. There's no way it can be true. You and dad would not have stayed together if he didn't get you pregnant."

"You're right about my relationship with your father. We should have never have got married. We were not in Love. We were too young to get married. How I feel about your father has no relevance to how I feel about you. You have to remember two things honey."

"What is that mom?"

"You may have been created because the condom broke but you exist because I love you. I could have had an abortion. I was 16 and completely terrified with an abusive father who probably would have beaten me to death if your uncle's didn't intervene. The thought never crossed my mind. I loved you from the moment I knew you existed. The first time I saw you on that screen I knew I loved you."

Chad was crying at that point and so was his mother. "I love you too." He said in a whisper as another tear fell.

"Sometimes I wish I could have been as brave as Tiffany or Kim. Both are completely willing to do the mom thing on their own with no help from anyone else. Maybe if I defied your grandfather things would have been better."

"Tiffany has me, Sharpay and her aunt if nothing else. I don't think Kim was that brave considering she didn't tell Troy for two years."

"The situation was a lot more complicated than that and you know it." He knew how complicated the situation was.

"The other thing you need to remember Chad is that you and Sharpay are not me and your father. You two have been together for around six months and have already survived things that probably would have me and your father signing the divorce papers instantly. As much as I would like you and Sharpay to make it to your wedding day without having sex sex I doubt that's going to happen. There's also the fact that saying something like that would make me a complete hypocrite.

"Are you talking about the fact that you lost your virginity at least five years earlier then I possibly could at this point or the fact that you're currently sleeping with a married man technically?" Chad asked his mom in a way that helped stop the tears.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious son. All I'm saying is don't be afraid to be with Sharpay completely because of my stupid mistakes."

"You know we could actually make it to the wedding if you would let it happen earlier." He said in a way to test the waters. After Darby's latest stunt, he was starting to get worried.

"Why do you want to get married so badly?" His mom asked calmly. That was a good sign.

"Darby," He spat out the word as a curse.

"What does Darby have to do with you wanting to marry Sharpay now?"

"Sharpay's dad told you about the special clause in her trust fund."

"You mean the fact she gets control of it as soon as you and her get married. I am well aware of that. It's one of the main reasons why I think you to need to wait awhile."

"What you don't know is despite everything that's happened, Mr. Evans cannot get Darby removed from being one of the administrators of the trust fund. If something were to happen to Sharpay's dad before she turned 21 Darby will raid the fund just to hurt both of her children. If we got married now Darby would lose control over the fund and Sharpay will take over until Ryan turns 21. I don't trust Darby after what she did this week."

"You want an early wedding date to protect her?"

"Yes."

"Keep the perspective wedding date for now and I'll see if I can find a loophole. If something happens to Vince before we can find another way to take care of Darby, I will personally call one of my judge friends to marry you and Sharpay. Although if you get married without me behind my back I will come up with a punishment that will make what we did during winter break seem like a simple time out. I told you that you and Sharpay are both my children now. I will protect both of you no matter what."

* * *

The metro ride to Foggy Bottom was horrible. Everybody was taking the subway today. There were also a lot of events going on in town for MLK and the inauguration. It probably didn't help that the doctor's office was only seven blocks away from the White House. Sharpay was happy that Kim's stepmother knew a doctor that would see her today.

Dr. Elizabeth Carter was very nice and professional. She knew what was wrong was Sharpay right away.

"The good news is you just have a mild infection. You indicated that you don't have any allergies so I'll give you some antibiotics and a decongestant. Just get plenty of rest today, tomorrow, and Wednesday and you'll be ready to go back to class Thursday. I'll even write you a doctor's note for classes."

"How am I going to get any rest tomorrow when I'm supposed to be going to the inauguration?" Sharpay wondered out loud as she was walking out the door of the room.

"You are right about the inauguration not being restful. A sex marathon with your significant other would be more relaxing and less stressful on your system." Dr. Carter mumbled under her breath. "Standing around in near freezing temperatures for several hours will make you sicker. You also don't need to be surrounded by a million other people."

"I can't go tomorrow?" Sharpay ask the doctor with a sad expression on her face.

"I'm afraid not." This made Sharpay very unhappy and she let the doctor know it.

* * *

Taylor was originally going to look at the GW campus while Sharpay was with the doctor. After 15 minutes of looking around she discovered that Martin Luther King Day was not the best time to look at the campus. The majority of buildings were locked today. She was now sitting in the lobby exchanging text messages with Ryan as the others tour the Spy Museum. If she realized the campus would be closed today she would have went with the others. She was broken out of her conversation when she heard Sharpay screaming at the doctor.

Because both of her parents were doctors she knew it would be best to stay back here but as Sharpay continued yelling she thought it was best to intervene. She would later regret that decision.

"Taylor is that you?" The doctors said quickly ending her argument with Sharpay.

"Do I know you?" Taylor asked quietly because honestly she did not remember this woman.

"You probably don't remember me, but I did help deliver you. I'll never forget that delivery." The woman said with a shiver. "That's why I switched to general practice. Every time your mom comes to visit she shows me pictures and talks about you."

"Which mom are you talking about?" Taylor said sarcastically.

"Your biological one. Even though I and Alexis went to med school together we rarely call each other. Your other mom calls me all the time. It probably has something to do with the fact that we were roommates for a few years."

"You are aware she gave me up for adoption?" Taylor asked in irritation.

"She didn't have a choice after your father tried to have her killed. She needed to keep you safe."

"What are you talking about?" Taylor asked in confusion.

"You were born three months early because that bastard hired someone to break into our apartment and slit her throat. If I didn't go back to the apartment to get my purse, you and your mom would not be here right now."

Dr. Carter continued the true story of her birth. Taylor was too shocked to say anything. She actually didn't say a word until they got into the cab. Sharpay didn't ask her how she was and she was grateful for that. When she met up with Ryan at the hotel 2 hours later, she didn't tell him what happened. He just held her as she cried. She didn't know if Sharpay said anything or not but at that moment it didn't matter.

* * *

Troy quickly realized that his girlfriend was only letting him throw a birthday party for Alex for his sake. It was pretty obvious from the fact that the cake didn't say happy birthday and all of the decorations were general in nature. When everybody sing happy birthday, Kim opted not to join in.

30 minutes later, he saw her outside the ball area eating a slice of not birthday cake avoiding everything. It wasn't normal for her to be like this.

"I see you are not enjoying the party."

"Not really. Although at least I don't have to listen to Sharpay be mad about being forced to stay home sick tomorrow. I'm so glad that Chad's mom made her go back to the hotel early. Too bad Taylor didn't come; otherwise I would have somebody to talk to right now. Amanda is too busy text messaging her special friend." Troy honestly didn't want to know what special friend Kim was referring to. "I told you I am not a birthday person."

"But you had the party anyway."

"There's nothing wrong with a good party. I just don't feel like celebrating the day that I almost got killed. Two years ago on this very day, **my mother** hired somebody to kill me and Alex. We almost lost him." She said this last part sobbing as he pulled her against him.

"I know." It was the only thing he said as he gently stroked her hair.

"I thought it would be easier to be here in DC where there is not anything that will remind me of mom or what she did."

"I'm sorry I forced you to have the party. Next year we can have a regular party for the kids at daycare sometime in February. Besides it's not like Alex really needs birthday presents."

"Not really, I think we live at the toy store sometimes."

**January 20, 2009**

It was 10:00 AM when Sharpay actually got up that morning. If she was too sick to go to the inauguration, she might as well sleep in. What irritated Sharpay the most was she really didn't feel that sick anymore. The medication that she received yesterday was working well. She actually made it through the night without waking up coughing. She had a semi-good night sleep. It probably helped that Taylor was still in too much shock from yesterday's revelations to "play" with Ryan.

Sharpay was aware of the real reason she needed to stay in. She wasn't healthy enough to stand outside in near freezing temperatures for six or seven hours. Even though she was upset about it, she followed the doctor's orders reluctantly. She couldn't afford to miss week or two of classes if she got really sick.

As usual she ran a hand over where Chad should be sleeping. That part of the bed still felt warm even though he probably left 5 hours ago to make the trek into DC. She missed waking up with him this morning.

When she returned from the bathroom after taking care of all morning needs she saw her very hot boyfriend in the room. He was holding a tray with her favorite breakfast of Belgian waffles with low fat with cream and fresh berries.

"You're supposed to be in DC?" Sharpay said to him as he placed a tray next to her on the bed after she sat back down. He then proceeded to kiss her forehead.

"I rather be with you here." Chad said as he sat down behind her and actually started feeding her. Breakfast in bed is great, but breakfast in bed with Chad feeding her is even better.

"You came specifically to DC to see the inauguration." she said as he placed another piece of waffle in her mouth.

"It's not that big of a deal. I really came to see my mom and hang out with you. I also don't think I want to stand in a crowd of a million people in near freezing temperatures for several hours just to see something I can watch on television." She listened to his excuses as he continued to feed her. She knew he was looking forward to being there in person. He has been talking about it for weeks.

"Don't lie to me baby. Just admit that you love me more than anything else."

"I love you more than anything else. I'm here to make sure you rest and get better." At that point he forced her to finish her breakfast. After he placed her now empty tray in the living room he returned to her side and wrapped himself around her.

"Do you really want to stay with me forever?" She asks him quickly because the question has been on her mind a lot lately. Especially after two days ago, when she realized that she was ready to make love to him. "Do you really want crazy me with all my baggage? Darby is going to keep doing stupid things. Can you really handle everything involved with being me?" Instead, he pulled her into his arms and drew her engagement ring of to his lips and kissed it.

"If it wouldn't cause my mom two completely freak out, I would take you to the courthouse and marry you right now. I want to marry you. I want to spend forever with you. I don't care if that means moving in to that horrible apartment again and living on extra crispy macaroni and cheese for the next three years." Chad said to her as his fingers moved under the T Shirt she borrowed from him.

"Don't even think about that sort of thing." Sharpay said turning around and looking at him.

"It could happen. I think we could get through it. We may end of yelling at each other a lot but I think that's our way of communicating. It's supposed to be you. No matter what happens, it's always going to be you. I've been in love with you since I was five and we got in a fight over chocolate milk. I've been attracted to use since I was 12 and got really good at strategically placing books."

That comment made her laugh. That was Chad code for "I got a hard on every time I saw you since I hit puberty." She felt his mouth place gentle kisses that became very intense very quickly.

"I love you to. I noticed in high school that you carry that basketball low every time we got in an argument."

"So you were paying attention to me."

"I was always paying attention to you. Say you love me." She said this as she pulled her top off.

"I love you more than anything else in the world." He said kissing her again. At this point she should no longer be contagious but it didn't matter. If Chad was going to get sick he would have already.

"Promise me you will never leave me."

"I will never leave you. Only death will take you away from me." His words made up her mind. Before she could back out and let the fear consumer again she unzipped his pants and began to pull them down along with his silk boxer shorts. Within moment she had her favorite part of his anatomy in her hand. He was already halfway hard before she even touched him.

"I don't think we should be doing this. Not that I don't enjoy this, but the Dr. said that you're supposed to be resting. That's why you're here at the hotel and not standing outside in slightly above freezing temperatures waiting for Obama to be sworn in." Oddly enough, he didn't pull away from her physically.

She didn't respond to him verbally. Instead, she grabbed the supplies from the night stand where she placed them a few days ago. Chad's eyes went wide when he saw the bottle of raspberry flavor lube and condoms. His mouth literally fell open when the condom made its way into his hand.

"I feel fine. I'm here because the cold air will make me sicker. It's not good to be around other people we you are sick." She just knew he was going to make some smart ass comment, but she cut him off with a finger pressed against his lips." You don't count. As much time as we spend together, if you are going to catch this you would have by now."

"That's true." Chad said giving her another hard kiss. As usual, it is a battle of teeth and tongues.

"I want to make love to you." Sharpay whispered against his lips so quietly that he barely heard her. The fact that he pulled away from her indicated that he heard every word.

"How much Nyquil did you drink last night?" Of course that would be the first thing her easily worried boyfriend would say. This is why she loves him. Most guys wouldn't care. Most would do anything in the name of a quick fuck, but not her Chad.

"I did not drink any Nyquil or alcohol last night. They gave me a decongestant that won't make me stoned or horny. I'm physically and my right mind at the moment." She says this as she pushes him up against the headboard of the lush king size bed. She felt his hands make their way underneath the fabric of her blue cotton panties. He inserted one finger quickly causing a moan to escape her lips.

"Your body is indicating otherwise. You are so wet." He said in a whisper as the wonderfully talented fingers are removed, leaving her wanting more contact. His hands find a new resting place at her hips right above the waistband of her underwear.

"No I'm not stoned on cough medicine or anything else. Baby that is you. I'm ready to be with you. I'm ready for you to be in me. From this point on no matter what happens, it's going to be you and me." She says the words breathlessly in between kisses. She was just happy she didn't start coughing otherwise she knew he would stop this.

"Are you sure?" Chad said as his hands suddenly still above her waist. She felt the nervousness in his body. He comes off so cocky with everybody else. When he's with her he can be vulnerable. This isn't just their first time together. This is his first time and in way it will be hers as well. As long as he is ready, she is.

She didn't say a word. Instead, she placed her hands over his and together they removed the last piece of clothing separating them. The look in his eyes tells her that he's ready.

He grabs the bottle of lube and begins to prepare her. He does this because he's very paranoid about hurting her. Sharpay's mouth continues to worship him with slow licks and bites as he touches her so intimately.

Sharpay is halfway gone by the time she grabbed the condom and gently rolled in on him after properly opening the package. It wasn't the first time she's done this. Her overly paranoid boyfriend wouldn't let them do anything that triggered his ejaculation without protection after he discovered the concept of "virgin pregnancy".

As she positioned herself above him she felt the fear come back. She wondered if she would always be afraid a little. It didn't matter because when she heard him whisper the words "I love you." That feared disappeared completely.

They talked a lot about what she wasn't comfortable with before today. One thing she couldn't deal with was the traditional missionary position. She couldn't handle someone being on top of her like that. Even when they did other things, they avoided him being on top of her whenever possible. Even if she was on top, she wasn't sure she could deal with that position during traditional sex.

Instead they were sitting up against the back of the bed. Chad's back was against the wall as she was positioned in front of him. When she was ready she sank down on him slowly. She heard a loud moan escape his mouth as her muscles surrounded him for the very first time.

The moment she felt him inside of her she knew this is where he belong. They were truly made for each other. All other thoughts went away as she gave herself to him completely.

At first, it hurt a little despite the fact that he prepared her before entering. That went away when his mouth found hers again and the angle of penetration was adjusted so that he was stimulating her as they met each other's thrusts.

Technically this was his first time, but he has always known her body instinctually. He has always known where to touch to make her scream in ecstasy. It probably helped that his ability to learn anything from reading a book applied to activities of a carnal nature as well.

At some point, she feels one of his hands move from its place above her hips to in between the two of them. She felt him stimulate her clit as her muscles tightened around him. Numerous expletives passed through both of their lips as they continued their rhythm. She wasn't sure how long they stayed connected like this when she felt there simultaneous release, it didn't matter. From this moment forward they will always be connected. She wouldn't have it any other way.

**April 29, 2006 7:24 AM **

When she woke up that morning, she didn't know where she was. The first thing she noticed was the world seemed disjointed. The second thing she noticed was her body felt like it did when she was seven and Darby assaulted her so badly that she broke three bones including Sharpay's nose.

Though this time a certain part of her felt like it was torn apart. She was always thankful that Darby only hit her. Sharpay didn't know what she would do if sexual abuse was added to Darby's torture techniques. At this Point Sharpay noticed the blood on the sheets and the marks on her wrists.

Her body was covered with bruises. Sharpay wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what happened last night before the disjointed drug scattered memories entered her mind. She felt his body on top of her as if he was doing it now. She had distorted memories of him entering her without care and pounding into her with only his own release in mind. She was to out of it to say no. She was too drugged to push back or fight. Once again she felt like that little girl who couldn't push Darby away. That was the memory that made her truly fall apart.

She found herself running to the dirty bathroom in the rundown hotel. At that point, she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Tears were streaming down her face. "How could he do this to her?" She thought to herself as she sat against the cold tiles of the floor.

She knew she should go to the hospital to let them collect all the evidence. But she could not do it. She knew it would be like before with Darby. Richard was powerful. It would be her word against his even with the bruises. The dick that raped her was smart enough to use a condom. There would be no semen for them to collect. There would be No DNA evidence tying him to this.

She couldn't stay here with his scent on her body. She turned the spray on as hot as possible. The water burned her skin but it was not enough to get him off of her. No matter how much she scrubbed, he was still on her. After scrubbing so hard that her skin was raw, her body crumbled down in the tub. It will be another hour before she got up and dried herself off. The water turned ice cold before she even considered it.

She called Kim after she puts herself together. She makes Kim promise not to tell anybody just like when they were children and Darby would beat the hell out of her. This time Kim is older and breaks that promise instantly. Kim takes her to the hospital and they do a rape kit even though most of the evidence is washed down the drain. The drugs are still in her system and it's obvious that she has been sexually assaulted. They take pictures of the bruises and collect her clothing from the night before. They give her antibiotics and emergency contraceptive to prevent the worst possible consequences.

She registers under an assumed name because she doesn't want anyone to know what happened. She refuses to talk to the police. She doubts they can actually do anything. Her childhood taught her that those in power can always get away. Over the years she's gotten very good at keeping quiet about these sorts of things. After what seems like an eternity they let her go.

She was expecting to see Kim waiting for her alone. Instead standing there was the man who is supposed to protect her from everything. She instantly goes to him breaking down in front of him. The tears finally fall as he places his arms around her.

**January 20, 2009 12:39 AM**

As the rest of the world and his friends who are currently across the river watch Obama become president he was watching Sharpay. Chad has always loved watching Sharpay sleep. Even from the first time he discovered this need to watch her. When they spent the night together, he usually stays up an hour more to make sure she was okay. If she woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, he would wrap his arms around her and he would stay up watching her until he knew she was safely asleep again.

This time Sharpay was caught up in a post orgasmic sleep. He was worried that the nightmares would come this afternoon. As he runs a hand gently through her brown locks he thinks about the precious gift that she gave him. Richard doesn't count because he took something that was never supposed to be his. Sharpay gave of herself to him freely.

This morning it was just her and him being with each other. He wouldn't let things continue otherwise. When he felt her sink down around him as her tight muscles swallowed him whole, he felt connected to her on a level that went beyond the physical. This wasn't about sexual gratification even though the physical aspects of the experience were better than anything else they have done up to that point. Being with her like this is about trust. The fact that she trusted him enough to make love to him, made him come harder than the act itself.

As she continued to sleep, he started to run his hands over her naked flesh. This is another first. Usually they never slept together with both of them completely nude. Even if they were doing "other things" Sharpay would put on his T shirt or he would slip on a pair of boxer shorts afterwards. This is just another sign of the closeness between them.

As he continued touching her he finally felt her stir. She had a look in her eyes as she finally regained consciousness indicating another nightmare. The way her body tensed up suddenly as she regained consciousness also told him this. The difference this time was as soon as she saw him she calms down instantly.

"Are you okay?" he asked her as he placed a gentle kiss on her temple.

"I am fine baby." His lover/soul mate said to reassure him as she brought his mouth down for a searing kiss. Even though her tongue massaging his distracted him he knew that her statement wasn't 100% accurate.

"For some reason I don't completely believe you. Did you have another nightmare?"

"Yes, but it wasn't the same. Usually I dream about the actual attack. This time I dreamt about the morning after. I remembered what it was like waking up alone in the hotel room and having Kim come get me. I remembered the rape kit and the doctor trying to get me to do a police report. In the dream, I remembered dad being there to come get me. He was supposed to be on a plane to Japan with Kim's dad for some major deal in Osaka. Instead, he called off the trip and stayed with me. I think that was the first time in forever I felt like I really had a dad. Even though he screws up a lot, I know that he loves me."

"That's more than I can say for my father."

"That's untrue Charles loves you." He doesn't believe her.

"The first time he calls me in months is to yell at me because I'm leaving basketball behind. He doesn't care about the twins and he doesn't care about me. It doesn't matter I have you and the twins have both of us. Tell me about the rest of your dream?" He asked her gently as he continues to make small circles on her stomach with his gentle fingers.

"The dream didn't go into my summer with dad bouncing around business meetings in Asia and Europe. The dream ends with me leaving to the room and now me feeling safe again."

"That's Different. You never feel safe in the Richard dreams." Chad said to her as he feels her move closer to him.

"This is different. This is the morning after, not the act itself. I usually never get to the next day. I always feel like I'm trapped in the moment that it happened."

"Maybe the fact that you're having another morning after you're mine went back to the first time." He said giving her another gentle kiss. Of course, they can never stay very gentle with each other and he feels a certain part of his anatomy return to full attention as her thighs brush against him.

"No it's because this is the next day. I'm not trapped in that moment anymore."

"I'm going to need you to explain that to me."

"I was always trapped in that moment when he attacked me. I couldn't move on to the next thing. Even during my relationship with Zeke, I couldn't move on. Maybe that's another reason why I chased after Troy. Because of you it's now the next day. I'm able to move on from what happened and finishes living my life. I'm moving on to you." He didn't have time to respond to her because her mouth was on his, consuming him again. He barely had the mental strength to break away from her to grab another condom. This time when they made love again she let him take the lead.

* * *

As they made their way out of the crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, Kim seriously wondered why they wanted to come to something that they could have just as easily watched on television. The thought crossed her mind several times today as she woke up at 4:00 AM, navigated her way through the beyond crowded metro station, got searched by security multiple times, and stood out in the Near freezing cold for several hours. The only good thing is they actually had seats and tickets. They could have came later because they had tickets but they probably would have ended Up like those people who couldn't even make it to the correct section.

She was glad that they decided not to bring Alex to the festivities. She didn't want to chase her overactive two year old through this crowd. She also didn't want him to get sick from standing outside for so long.

If she knew Chad was going to stay behind to keep Sharpay company, she would've had him watch Alex instead of imposing on Caroline. Even though Caroline said it wasn't a big deal because she had the day off and Jack was safely back in New Mexico after leaving the night before.

Overall, the inauguration was fun and she would spend most of tomorrow telling the students what happened in great detail. Her favorite part was Marc making snide remarks about his own party as Dick Cheney is brought into the facilities utilizing a wheelchair. Mark also made equally snide remarks when one of the special guests appeared on stage. The other fun part was joining in on the chorus of "hey hey, goodbye" as the former President boarded Marine 1.

The first thing they did as they made their way out of the crowd of people was to find a coffee shop with a clean bathroom. She is pretty sure the bathroom was more important than the coffee.

As they sat in a very crowded Starbucks warming themselves with hot chocolate and over price coffee (even if you're worth millions, it still overpriced) she grabbed her cell phone out of her coat. She chose not to carry a purse because that would be one more thing to lose in this crowd.

"You are calling to check up on him?" Troy asked her as he ran a hand discreetly over her thigh. His touch was much more warming then her signature salted caramel hot chocolate.

"He's our baby. Besides you're the one who logs on at lunch time to watch our baby on wed can at day care."

"That's because I'm not here all the time. You know I hate not being here." She knows quite well how much he hates being alone at Berkeley. It's worse now that he lives in their four bedroom house without her and Alex. However, this is not the time or place to get into that discussion.

"On average how many times do you call me and Alex?"

"I called you that many times a day before we were back together and I knew Alex was my son. By the way promise me you'll never tell Gabriella that." Troy said as he grabbed her hot chocolate and took a drink.

"That's my hot chocolate. Get your own. Trust me, I'm not telling your literally crazy ex girlfriend that you were psychologically cheating on her for months before you broke up with her. Now let me call our baby." Kim said as she leaned over and kissed him one more time.

"You taste chocolaty." Troy said as he pulled away.

"Call your son and stop molesting you're not a husband in public." Her stepsister said to her as she and Ryan sat across from them.

"This is fun coming from the woman who has been doing all sorts of inappropriate things with her not a boyfriend. By the way little sister, I heard you and Ryan Sunday night. No wonder Sharpay was in such a bad mood yesterday. I'm just glad you figured out that the sick person actually need sleep and were quiet yesterday." At that moment, she felt Taylor throw a cinnamon bun at her. It was probably the biggest reaction from her stepsister since yesterday. She was actually very quiet today which is unusual for Taylor.

"Moments like this make me happy I don't have step siblings. Why do I need to sit by the happy couple again? You and Troy are worse than Chad and Sharpay. You two kept flirting and kissing the entire time today." Amanda said as she took the open seat next to Kim.

"Everybody be quiet as I call my baby." Kim put the phone on speaker mode as she called Caroline. Despite what he said out loud she knew Troy wanted to talk to Alex just as much.

"So how is my baby?" Kim asked as soon as Caroline picked up the phone.

"Extremely hyper and energetic. He is exactly like Troy at that age. The only difference is he doesn't have a partner in crime yet."

"I cannot imagine having to deal with two hyperactive children at the same time. This is why I'm making sure that Chad and Sharpay don't give Alex a playmate for at least three more years."

"Speaking of my baby, how's he doing being separated from his other half?" Kim had to laugh at that comment.

"Your baby didn't even make it out of the hotel room this morning. He couldn't bear to leave her alone." Kim told Caroline with a laugh.

"Why am I not surprise. This is after he spent 15 minutes last night talking me in to checking up on Sharpay today. I'm actually at the hotel now to do that."

"My suggestion is to get a key card from Miss **Caramanica**.

"I already did," Caroline said followed by the sound of the door unlocking. Within seconds, she heard her best friend of over a decade screaming at the top of her lungs, "harder baby --oh god --so good--love you." The phone had no trouble picking up Sharpay's disjointed speech without being on speaker mode.

Kim's mouth hung down in shock for a moment before she tried to grab her cell phone. She needed to get the phone off speaker mode before the super sensitive microphone on the other side started picking up expletives.

"Oh fuck--Chad -- love you." too late Kim thought to herself as she saw Amanda practically crawl underneath the table. Ryan looked just as mortified. She tried to grab her phone to end this embarrassing situation but Marc was currently holding her cell phone hostage.

The next thing she heard was Chad's mom yelling at her son, "Alex don't go in there." She knew exactly what was happening. This particular incident occurred over winter break several times because Alex had a big boy bed at the hotel they were staying at. She and Troy were currently trying to teach Alex not to run into their bedroom when mommy and daddy were having "private played time" unless it was an emergency. This is not a very easy concept to explain to a two year old. Kim only hopes that Alex will learn this before he's old enough to remember what he sees. God knows she's already going to have to spend a small fortune on therapy when Alex gets into high school no matter what.

At this point Troy is cracking up even though they're going to have to have a very long talk with their friends about locking the door if they're going to be doing stuff like that. Ryan has his head in his hands as is girlfriend started doing a happy dance because she just won the bet. It is the first time she smiled in almost 24 hours. Amanda is still practically hiding underneath the table in embarrassment. Marc was grinning like an idiot as he played keep away with her cell phone forcing them to listen to the rest of this "conversation".

Caroline was too busy chasing after Alex to actually end the phone call. Then she was too busy yelling at her son to remember that the phone was still on. They could hear her yelling at Chad and Sharpay after she pulled Alex out of the room.

"She is supposed to be resting. This is not resting." This was followed with several angry sentences in Spanish. Unfortunately Kim could only pick out the curse words.

"Mom!"

"Don't you dare mom me. Don't bother covering up either. I already know what you two were doing. You have 15 minutes to be outside fully dressed so we can have a conference call with Sharpay's father." After Kim heard the door slammed shut Caroline was back on the line.

"Are you still there?"

"Yes unfortunately, because Marc stole my cell phone. Did I mention I had this call on speaker phones so Troy could hear that Alex was okay?"

"Oh god. Excuse me I have to go. I need to yell at my son for having sex with his girlfriend when she is sick. I will probably still be yelling at the two of them when you get here." With that, Caroline ended the call.

She felt slightly bad for her friend. Being caught by your mom losing your virginity had to be 1000 times worse than being caught by the teacher on the roof, even if it is your favorite teacher. Then she remembered that her son walked in on them too. All sympathy went away.

A laughing Marc finely gave her back her cell phone as he grabbed his blackberry and started emailing everyone. As she watches the reactions of everyone around her she can't help but laugh. Especially when Troy says, "oh god this is worse than the almost sex tape."

"At least there were not any cameras this time." Kim said pointing out the silver lining in this situation.

"That we know of." Ryan muttered as Marc and Ryan's not a girlfriend started laughing harder in the overcrowded Starbucks as everybody started to stare at the group. Kim's final thought was, at least they were not any reporters around.


	33. A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Yes, I know it's been a while. I'm currently writing five stories. I only have so much time to devote to writing and for some reason the chapters for this story take the most time to write.

I was also starting to get burned out on this story and I decided to take some time to map out the end. We are actually in the home stretch of the story.

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Chapter 33: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Championship

He swore up and down that he would not be like his father, sitting up in the stands reliving his glory days at high school basketball games. He knew his dad came more to his high school games to relive old memories than to actually see him play. He refused to be one of those people who felt the best days of their life all happened in high school.

Yet somehow, his girlfriend forced him into coming to the New Mexico high school regional basketball tournaments being held this year at A of U on this wonderful Saturday evening. He was still coughing and sneezing from whatever Sharpay gave him earlier this week and he preferred to be in Kim's guest room snuggling up to his girlfriend. Instead, he was here.

He realize now that Sharpay had regular sex as a weapon in her arsenal to get him to do things he doesn't want to do he is both literally and figuratively fucked.

He was walking through the crowd hoping that that no one will recognize him. That did not happen. He still was asked a dozen times why he quit the team. He was too famous in New Mexico and Darby's stunt two weeks earlier did not help. That was the other subject that everybody asked about. If he ever saw Darby again he would knock her out.

He always thought it was a bit suspicious that two teams in the same city always ended up in the top two positions for their division. There had to be some schools in Santa Fe that were just as good as East High.

Somebody in power Last year got pissed off over the fact that East High and West High always ended up playing against each other in the state tournament and made a very big fuss about it in the press. The state board of education was not happy. To fix this, starting in 2009 the state championship would be determined in a tournament style event. In other words, they created another tourism friendly event.

It was Sharpay's dad's quick thinking that led to the tournament happening on the A of U campus. Not that anybody cared that there now disgraced board member was instrumental in getting this for the university and the city. The tournament was generating a small fortune in revenue between the ticket sales and the money people were spending on game related expenses like hotel rooms and dinner. Richard's uncle was doing a really good job of running his future father in law's name through the mud the closer they got to Richard's trial.

The change of format really didn't change anything. After the first two rounds, East High and West High would be meeting tonight in the semifinals. Yet, he was not excited to be here.

"Please tell me again why I agreed to come to this?" Chad asked his girlfriend as they took their seats near the floor. If Chad had his way, he would not be here watching another East High vs. West High game. They would be back in the guest room at Kim's house working their way through _101 Sex Positions for Beginners_.

"I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that your girlfriend is still walking funny." Penelope said sarcastically from behind. Penelope was also talked into coming to the tournament.

She and Sharpay were getting along much better, but he was blaming this on force proximity. Other than sharing a dorm room they were also overseeing the drama club together. They were currently trying to keep former best friends Kerri and Jackie on friendly terms. He just hoped for his sanity that both ceasefires lasted to the end of this semester. He will never understand girls and feuds.

"I'm just that good." Chad said with a smirk as he remembered exactly what they did before coming here.

"Wipe that smirk off your face before I decide not to give you a repeat performance. You are here because several of the more tolerable students on the basketball team and the cheerleaders that I can actually stand asked Penelope and me to come. There's no way I am going to any basketball game without you being there for emotional support." Sharpay said as she leaned over and kissed him. "Besides you promise me you would come." She said in her sexy voice that made him consider that last sentence a double entendre. Why does she do that to him?

"Is it wrong that I hope East High wins the tournament or at the very least beats West High? I really don't want to have to wear sunglasses in class Monday or have my car covered in eggs and toilet paper." Penelope said as she took the seat next to Sharpay. She was actually wearing East High colors.

During acting class over the last couple of weeks, he and Penelope have been talking a lot. Penelope was absolutely miserable in high school despite being one of the "popular people". Like him, she was one of the smart people. Just like at East High, cheerleaders couldn't be brains. Just like him, she kept her intelligence hidden.

Because West high was on the poor side of town, Penelope did not have the opportunity to take classes like AP biology or take part in the dual enrollment program at the local community college. At least he could sneak out for enrichment classes. Penelope was bored out of her mind in high school. Board gifted children have a tendency to act out. He chose pranks with Troy and Penelope chose screwing Zeke in the boy's locker room.

"I thought you were not having problems with students seeing you as the enemy?" Chad said as he took a drink of his overpriced water that Sharpay gave to him.

"The drama students don't see me as the enemy, but a lot of them remember me from drama camp and city wide theater competitions. When I see all the resources that your school had for the drama department, it makes me wish I found a way to switch schools. The other students are a bit of a problem. Jack had to give a couple of the stupid basketball players "basketball detention" for calling me a "West High basketball bitch" in the middle of class."

Chad remembered exactly what a basketball detention was. It involves at least 20 minutes of running suicides along with other forms of physical torture that only of basketball coach could envision. After 1 hour of that torture, you knew better than to do anything that will get you a basketball detention again. He never had the displeasure of serving one, but Troy had two weeks worth of "basketball detentions" after the spring dance sophomore year. Thinking about it now, Chad was sure that was part of Troy's punishment for getting caught having sex with Kim on the roof.

"Beautiful sets don't matter when you have no creative freedom. At least at your school you could do a kissing scene in the production. You did hear about our principal fainting last semester when Chad and I accidentally kissed on stage? We weren't even students." Sharpay said as she displayed her signature pout.

"Your productions may be highly censored, but at least East High is still going to have them. According to my cousin, due to the completely fucked up economy there cutting the drama department completely at West. That means no more productions or even drama classes. Of course, they have all sorts of funding to refinish the gymnasium and buy brand new uniforms for the basketball team." Penelope said sarcastically as she took a drink of her water.

"We wouldn't be having a production either if it wasn't for Kim offering to finance it herself this semester. In retaliation for what happened at the fall play the principal slash the budget completely. I'm surprised the principled didn't use Miss Darbus getting sick as an excuse to completely get rid of the program."

"What are you guys doing for the spring musical? Miss D usually had signup sheets out by now." Chad said as he grabbed a bit of his girlfriend's popcorn. He was really going to have to talk Sharpay into putting butter on her popcorn again. Sharpay was currently freaking out because of the recent weight gain and was putting herself on a strict diet again.

Personally, he thought she looked beautiful no matter how much she weighed but there was no arguing with Sharpay. Although on the bright side, she was now running with him every morning.

"Jack won't let us mention the word spring musical until basketball season is over with. Also due to last fall's incident, the censorship happy principle will not even let us post signups until he approves the script. We're considering For the first time in almost 10 years not doing an original musical. Kim offered to pay for the rights to anything we wanted to do." Sharpay said with a sigh.

"I personally think she's hoping we'll get to do _Rent_. This is the first year that the musical has been available for a high school production. Jimmy would make a really good Angel." Penelope said to him and Sharpay. He doubted they would get to do the play, but Penelope was right, Jimmy would make a really good Angel.

"Have you met the principal of East high? There's no way on earth he's going to let us do a musical with gay characters or anything that deals with the AIDS issue. When we did Cinderella a few years back as the fall play, he wouldn't even let us include mentions of child abuse. We're probably going to end up doing something very Disney, with all the good parts cut out. Maybe you should tell him about you giving our mutual ex boyfriend a blowjob in the boy's locker room. The shock alone will kill him and then I'll get to do the play I want to. Does he really think teenagers are not having sex?"

"Considering Kim brings her and Troy's two year old to the school all the time, I don't think he can ignore it anymore. Where is Kim? I thought she and the future basketball player were meeting us." Chad asked his girlfriend.

"She sent a text message when being attacked with invasive questions. She said she would come up as soon as she was done playing the role of supported daughter in law. In retaliation for Jack dating your mom, Troy's mom is now screwing the coach from West High. If you look really closely you can see the making out right there." He looked to where Sharpay was pointing and saw the evil bitch kissing that dick of a coach from West.

"Does she have any standards? There has been rumors going around the entire time I was a cheerleader that he was screwing one of my fellow cheerleaders. Not that the West High principle will even look into it because he's best friends with the coach. I seriously doubt that would ever happen at east high school. Maybe it's a good thing your principle is uptight. Was he always like this?"

"Yes," both he and Sharpay said at the same time. Although after what Penelope said, maybe that's a good thing. If allegations like that were made at East High their principle would have them looked into immediately.

"Speaking of people with dubious taste, does Amanda really think we're not going to recognize her wearing a baseball Cap? Marc is with her. That in itself is a dead giveaway," Penelope said with a laugh.

"Did they really think I didn't hear them at Kim's party a couple weeks ago? Kim Seriously needs to invest in soundproofing otherwise Alex is going to have one serious therapy bill." His girlfriend said to Penelope. He was trying to figure out what they were talking about. He was a little too busy with Sharpay that night to hear anything else.

"Shouldn't you two be contributing to that fund? I heard from Marc that Alex and Chad's mom walked in on you to. By the way thank you for funding my spring break this year and for providing me with a wonderful financial cushion for this semester."

Sharpay was still pissed off at him for not locking the door to their room in the suite Tuesday. How was he supposed to know his mom was going to be able to get a key card from the front desk? If it wasn't for the fact that her brother was completely mortified by the entire experience she would probably be a lot angrier at him.

Sharpay was perfectly OK with what they did Tuesday and several times since Tuesday, even though she gave him her respiratory infection. However, it was still in his best interest to change the subject quickly.

"Are you okay with her being with him?" Surprisingly enough this is a less sensitive topic.

"No, but it's not like I want to be with him again. Then again she I s kind of my friend and I don't want her to get hurt." Penelope said looking away. "Maybe it's just sex. Not everybody finds their soul mate at 18. The rest of us mere mortals must kiss a lot of frogs. Zeke is definitely a frog." That last comment caused Sharpay to start giggling. He was personally wondering if Penelope was covering up the pain with humor.

"If I can handle Troy practically being married to my best friend, then I can deal with Amanda dating my other ex boyfriend. I like Troy a lot more than I ever like Zeke. I'm okay after I threatened to cut off his dick yesterday if he does the same thing to her that he did to us. If she is with Zeke then I don't have to worry about her making a move on you. I have you and I don't want anybody else." Sharpay said as she kissed him on the cheek quickly.

"What are you talking about?" He asked his girlfriend in surprise. There is no way she can b e saying what he thinks she is saying.

"He doesn't know? Everybody knows." Penelope asked Sharpay quickly.

"Not a clue."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mandy has a crush on you." Penelope said with a little laugh.

"She does not." Over the years, a lot of girls (and boys) have had crushes on him. Even Kerri the cousin of his future siblings' mommy had a crush on him in high school. Actually he's pretty sure Tiffany had a crush on him in high school but he tries not to think about how truly disturbing that is.

The thing is girls (or boys) who had crushes on him were anything but subtle. He always knew. He would receive tons of gifts and a lot of dirty proposals. For Example, every single Valentine's Day since junior high some mystery girl sent him a $200 box of fine chocolate. He also remembered the fallout after Taylor found a pair of lace panties in his locker that one of the cheerleaders left inside with her phone number attached. It was almost on par with her taking the baseball bat to the plasma incident after she found out about the Sharpay thing.

"There's no way she can have a crush on me. She doesn't fit the profile. Most girls that have a crush on me are usually more aggressive. You do remember that you tried to jump me." He said that last part directly to Penelope.

"Can we please not talk about that? I also backed off as soon as I saw the engagement ring." Penelope said putting her head in her hand in embarrassment.

"I never did that. I wanted to rip your head off."

It's kind of funny that the only two girls in high school who didn't fall all over him where the two girls he actually dated. When he started to get to know Taylor she hated him. Then after one of their epic arguments they started making out. They went from hating each other to making out with each other with no space in between. Maybe that's why their relationship fell apart.

At lease with he and Sharpay there was a transition between hating each other and becoming lovers. Even though it was relatively short, at least they were talking to each other before they started making out all the time.

"More like you want to suck his c-" he placed a hand over Penelope's mouth as he noticed Tiffany, Kerri, and Jason walking down the stairs.

"Can you please control yourself? I would like my new brother and sister to make it into the world before their corrupted by you. Also they brought Jason with them so please don't pervert the 13 year old." Of course, before he could finish yelling at Penelope he noticed the slightly grey headed man of his nightmare standing behind the trio.

"Honey, why didn't you tell me your father was going to be here?" He asked squeezing Sharpay's hand a little too tightly.

"I forgot." Sharpay said sheepishly in a way that told him she was lying. That's the last thing he remembered Sharpay saying as she kissed him.

* * *

**2 hours earlier**

"No. Ask someone else. " Amanda said as loud as she could to her friend.

"Nikki is home this weekend; you know that because she is your roommate. Mandy you owe me for helping you with your class work this semester." Marc said with a smile.

"I'm still not doing it. You hate basketball. The only time you go to games is to make fun of the other cheerleaders. It's been like that since high school. There must be a guy involved."

"Jimmy asked me to come." She just rolled her eyes when he said that.

"Jimmy has a girlfriend. Jimmy is also 16. You're not trying to break them up are you? He already has enough trouble with Tiara trying to do that by manipulating Jackie." She thought she was done with high school drama when she got out of high school, but it never ends.

"He was just a friend with make out privileges and until the girlfriend disappears, we're just friends." For some reason she just wasn't buying that. "There is a guy, just not Jimmy. Do you remember at Kim's party a couple weeks ago when I was talking to the cute guy that came in with your special friend? Anyway he invited me to the game, but he doesn't want it to look like a date because his parents don't know yet and they're going to be there cheering on his cousin."

"Zeke is not my friend."

"You're right he's not your friend. He is that guy you fucked at a party because you got completely wasted. Although if it was just the alcohol, why do you keep text messaging him?"

"If I say yes, will you please stop asking questions?"

* * *

"There's no way I'm going with you on a fake double date with my ex girlfriend." He was currently looking at Madison as if she was completely mad. He should have known something was wrong when she showed up to his house on this wonderful Saturday.

"Come on Troy, you're the only guy friend I have that will not try to grab my breast or ass on this fake date. I wouldn't ask if a certain boyfriend of mime wasn't at an away game. Your almost wife made me promise to make sure that you're not here alone in the house sulking tonight because you're not playing." Why did he have a feeling that Kim actually said something like that? His girlfriend was slightly overprotective and a bit crazy.

"I was not going to stay here alone sulking." He said in his defense. He was sure Madison didn't believe him.

"Yes you were. Come on, it's in your best interest to have your ex girlfriend dating again. We seriously need to find her a date for the Valentine's Day ball; otherwise, Mercedes will make her miserable. You know Gabby will not go out with Daniel unless she has one of her friends with her."

Madison was right; he would feel a lot less guilty if Gabriella was not so alone. She wasn't talking to most of her sorority sisters now that she wasn't wasted all the time and on the right mix of medication. She still wasn't talking to her mother after what happened in November. He was also pretty sure that she was only still on speaking terms with him and Ryan.

"You can still go with her by yourself or maybe you can invite one of the other girls from the sorority to go with you. It could be a group thing. Gabriella and I did those types of dates all the time when we were together."

"That's because you and Gabriella were not really dating. You were friends with make out privileges. You were in love with someone else and she was too stoned on happy pills to realize you were not really into the relationship." Why did he have to surround himself with people that were always right?

"It's still a valid option." Troy said with a shrug.

"Have you met most of the other girls at my sorority? Mercedes is one of the nicer people there. " That thought alone made him shiver. He heard all about Mercedes' roll in Gabriella's thanksgiving nervous breakdown. He personally hated the bitch. "Gabriella is about one of two people in the sorority that I can actually hold a conversation with. I swear to god, everyone else is a rich stuck up little brat who only got into Stanford because one of the wings is named after their great great grandfather."

"You do remember that my old dormitory was apparently named after my girlfriend's grandfather? Also my girlfriend's mom pretty much bribed at least the coach and a few other officials to get me into Berkeley."

By the time he got back from DC all the details were public knowledge. Most people felt sorry for him because he had a future mother in law who was completely crazy. A few people made nasty comments about him only being there because of the money. The worse comments came from James.

"That situation is different. Contrary to what you think, Troy you deserve to be at Berkeley as much as anyone else. Second, unlike the conceited idiots that I share the house with your girlfriend gave up every single penny of her multimillion dollar inheritance to raise your child. It takes a strong person to do that."

"Just because you flatter me, doesn't mean I'm going to say yes."

"Come on. It's just bowling and karaoke. Besides considering how you guys broke up, you kind of owe her." Madison decided to play the guilt card. He wasn't going to let her without a fight.

"We broke up because she posted a tape of my best friend almost getting a very drunk hand job from his current fiancée."

"No, you broke up with her because you were in love with Kim. You use the video as an excuse. She did not find out that you were practically married to someone else until almost a month after the breakup. She found out about your son at the same time. Of course this is right after she finds out that you two were only together in the first place because your mom despised Kim. Then she ended up spending several weeks in the psych ward because she completely cracked up. You owe her."

"Find, you win." Madison was worse than Alex trying to get his own way.

"I knew you would see it my way. Now go upstairs and put on something cute." Troy thought this was exactly why he needs to get more guy friends or convince Chad to apply to Stanford next year.

* * *

Gabriella looked in the mirror one more time before she grabbed her purse and cell phone to go out the door. She was currently wearing her seventh outfit of the evening but she didn't have time to change again. Madison just sent her a text message telling her to be ready to leave in 10 minutes. The casual outfit of jeans and a T shirt will just have to do.

She was just nervous because this was her first date in forever. It was definitely her first date post Troy breakup. Thinking about it now, she was not even sure her and Troy really had dates. She wasn't sure if surprise picnics on the school roof counted anymore, especially in light of the fact that Alex was conceived on that roof. She can count on one hand the amount of times she and Troy went on a date without Taylor and Chad or Ryan and Kelsey tagging along.

It's kind of funny to think that less than a year out of high school all the high school golden couples were gone. Chad was engaged to Sharpay now and Taylor was with Ryan. Kelsey was dating girls for that matter. Then again the platonic fell apart just as quickly. At the moment she was only talking to Troy and Ryan.

She tried to call Taylor today to talk about how nervous she was to go on a first date. Taylor did not even pick up the phone. It's what she deserves after her descent into madness during the first semester. Occasionally she and Taylor text message each other but that was about it. It seemed like that friendship was over for good.

She didn't know why she needed the assurance of her former best friend; things will be fine on her date. Daniel was this really nice guy from her calculus class that asked her out tonight. She was going to say no until Madison forced her to say yes. She would only agree to go on a date if Madison would go with her. She figured there would be no way Madison would do it without her boyfriend. Madison said she would have a date no matter what. So much for that excuse.

"How did you talk my practically married ex boyfriend into being your date?" She asked in shock when she saw Madison get out of Troy's brand new BMW convertible.

"He is easily susceptible to female manipulation; his wife has already broken him in." She and Madison always refer to Kim as Troy's wife. She personally doesn't understand why they're not already married. They are perfect for each other, even if it hurts her to admit that.

"I'm not even sure why I said yes. I'm sure a guilt trip was involved. I brought pictures of Alex's birthday party." Troy said handing her his smart phone. She was too busy looking over adorable baby pictures to really think about how awkward this was really going to be.

* * *

After saying something really nasty to her almost mother in law, she and Alex made their way to their seats. When she found out that Sharpay's dad was coming she decided to sit with Marc and Amanda. She had no idea that they were bringing Nicholas's cousin Jason and Zeke with them. As much as Amanda claimed otherwise there was something going on between her and Zeke.

Things were going OK. It was better than sitting with the happy couple. Chad sent her several text messages about is very uncomfortable conversation with Sharpay's dad before the game started when Sharpay suddenly had to run to the bathroom. She was glad she missed listening to that discussion in person.

It was more fun watching Zeke and Amanda tried to act like they were not on a date. She caught Amanda grabbing Zeke's hand three times. Amanda currently had Alex on her lap in an effort to avoid Zeke. Kim was getting some very good cell phone video of this.

She also tried not to laugh at the text messages she was receiving from Madison. As instructed Madison made sure her boyfriend didn't spend all evening whimpering at the house alone or breaking into the liquor collection. Although she had no idea Madison would talk him into being a pseudo chaperon for Gabriella's date.

The shocked expression on the guy's face when he found out Gabriella's ex boyfriend was tagging along was just priceless. The date must be going bad, even Gabriella's sent her a message about how her almost husband was acting like a complete ass to her date. She was so lost in the text message conversation that she almost missed the very interesting question from Jason Cross.

"Who is the pregnant girl with Chad and Sharpay? Why did Chad just put his hand on her stomach? She looks like Tiffany Jackson from high school."

"That is Tiffany Jackson from high school." Kim said barely looking up from her phone.

"You don't already have this piece of juicy gossip?" Marc asked the guy sitting next to him.

"Not really. It's not like I am on speaking terms with Chad currently. I'm just happy he's not trying to beat me up any more. Thanksgiving was not pretty. " Zeke answered for Jason.

"How could you not tell him about how Chad found out he was getting a new brother and sister for thanksgiving?" Marc said in his over hyper voice.

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked in confusion.

"Chad's dad has been sleeping with Tiffany for years even before the divorce. Fortunately, he didn't get her pregnant until after the divorce was finalize. Charles decided the best way to tell his son about his new brother and sister was to show up at the Airport with his pregnant girlfriend the day before thanksgiving. Of course, during the thanksgiving from hell, Tiffany realizes Charles is a complete ass and she dumps him. Instead of just breaking up with Tiffany, Charles breaks up with all his children. Tiffany moved back to Albuquerque in December. Charles did not bother contacting Chad or Tiffany until a couple weeks ago when Chad quit the basketball team. The guy is a first class prick." Amanda answered in anger. Kim notice Zeke put an arm around Amanda at this point.

"Did Chad find out about the babies before or after he beat the hell out of me?"

"Right before," Amanda said softly.

"Okay now I understand why I got beat up." That was probably the wrong thing to say because Amanda quickly pulled out of his embrace and slapped him on the arm.

"You mean other than the fact that you were screwing Penelope when you were publicly dating Sharpay? Oh wait it was the other way around. You were dating Sharpay when you were dating Penelope. I think I need some popcorn." Amanda said handing Alex back to her.

* * *

She blamed Chad for this entire thing. She was okay being at a basketball game if Chad was playing. Sitting in the stands watching people play that she didn't know was just not her thing. However because they got caught Tuesday by a certain evil two year old and Chad's mom, she was being forced to spend time with her dad.

After Tuesday's teleconference, he needed to make a trip to check up on operations in New Mexico even though he was in town last Friday. Maybe she should just be happy that her dad was actually making an effort now. If only he did this years ago.

It was true that several of her students asked her to come. Let's be honest after some idiot wrote certain nasty slurs on Jimmy's locker this week, he needed all the support he could get. She could still get out of it. After what happened Tuesday, it would be impossible to get out of father/daughter bonding time.

It wasn't like Chad's mom and her dad were really mad at her and Chad for having sex. Chad's mom was just happy he kept his virginity several years longer than she did. She was more upset about the fact that they were having sex when Sharpay was sick. Actually, they were both now sick but at least they were no longer contagious.

Her dad wasn't really that mad after he realized they used the pill, condoms, and spermicide. They still ended up getting the responsibility talk, which was so unfair. Her dad gets cell phone pictures of Ryan ripping off Taylor's bra and all Ryan gets is a gigantic box of Trojan delivered to his dorm room. Some days she wished she was born a boy.

Ryan and Taylor aren't even in a real relationship. They are for all intents purposes fuck buddies. Taylor cannot even call Ryan her boyfriend without practically throwing up. If they were really together, Taylor would have told Ryan about what she discovered in DC involving her birth. Instead, Sharpay was the only one who knew, not that that was doing any good. Yesterday she called Taylor to talk about it and she blew her off. She was worried and she couldn't tell Ryan why she was worried about his not-a-girlfriend because she promise she wouldn't say anything to anyone.

She and Chad are engaged, yet they are still treated like little kids. They cannot even hold hands in their dorm room without the RA yelling at them. She hated double standards. Fortunately, because the reporters were still stalking the campus they were staying at Kim's house.

So far, the parental bonding activity was going OK. Chad and her father were completely lost in the game after an earlier showdown. She doesn't know why Chad complained so much about being here. Within 30 seconds he was the most excited person there.

She was leaning on a basketball distracted Chad as she wrote her short story for her writing class on her I phone. It would be so much easier to do this if she had a keyboard.

"What are you working on? You can't be sending text messages because Chad is sitting right next to you." Kerri asked with a giggle.

"That's funny coming from the girl who would text message her boyfriend ten times in the time it takes me to drive her from East High to her house. If you must know, I'm doing my writing assignment for Monday. Shouldn't you be cheering on your boyfriend? "

"You forget she does the same thing in class. She would be doing that right now but he's playing." Jason said from behind them as he rolled his eyes.

"You're doing homework at a basketball game?" Chad asked her in surprise.

"You're such a nerd." Penelope added. If she wasn't sitting by two people under the ages 16 and her father she would tell Penelope that she was doing this now so her and Chad could tryout the positions on page 38, 47, and 69 of _101 Sex Positions for Beginners_. "We all can't get into it like you honey." Sharpay said reaching over and kissing him again. It was one of those "I wonder if we can sneak off to the bathroom" kisses.

They stopped as soon as Chad realized her dad was giving him the "stop touching my daughter" look. During this make out session Penelope manage to take her phone out of her hand and started reading the story. She's not sure. When Chad touches her in certain places her mind gets a little fuzzy.

"You're writing a song for your writing class?" She asked in surprise.

"It's creative writing. It's part of the alternative history X project. Kim and I are working together to write an alternate version of high school where Chad and I knew about Troy and Kim's relationship yet he still manage to get her pregnant. This particular scene was inspired by the first couple weeks after winter break junior year. Everyone was freaking out because Troy decided to be more than just a stupid jock."

"Heaven forbid there is a member of the basketball team that cares about something other than basketball." Kerri said sarcastically. "I'm almost positive I was the only member of the cheerleading squad where the Pink song _stupid girls_ did not apply."

"I have the same feeling. Can these kids stop moving?" Tiffany said with a little yell from behind Chad.

"Probably not, they are my relatives." Chad says as he placed a hand on Tiffany stomach to feel his siblings. "Sharpay you do remember you were one of the people freaking out?" Her boyfriend pointed out to her.

"So were you. Every time Troy started spending time with someone else you freaked out. Actually you acted the same way you did when I went out on that date with - is there something you need to tell me?"

"Good point." He said giving her another kiss as he pulls away from Tiffany. She knew he was purposely distracting her from her other question. She decided this was not the time or place to have this discussion.

"During that time I had this weird daydream where everybody in the cafeteria started confessing their deepest darkest secrets to the entire student body. Everybody starts freaking out because the skater dude played the cello. Considering what I now know about everybody secrets, those secrets were tame. In the new version, the secrets are a lot juicier and the panic is triggered by the entire student body finding out that Troy is going to be a daddy. We're kind of writing the entire thing as a musical."

"You have Zeke confessing to sleeping with me in this." Penelope said as she passed the phone to Jason and Kerri.

"It's a lot better than his confession in my original dream sequence. I had him confessing to liking to bake. Like the whole school didn't already know that secret. I figured that him confessing that he was dating the enemy would be better."

"It would have made me feel better because I wouldn't be his dirty little secret." She knew even though Zeke apologized with copious amounts of baked goods Penelope was still upset about this point. At least she got to be the public girlfriend. Penelope was stuck being Zeke's dirty little secret. No one deserved that.

"This is really good. You should turn this into the spring musical." Tiffany said reading the section over her cousin's shoulder.

"This is really good, but Chad's lines need some work if we could do it. Even if the Kim Bolton Foundation is paying for the play, the principle won't agree to it. You saw what he did to my play last year. Jason said to the group. "

"The subject matter is going to be too much. Not only does this have teen pregnancy in it, it is also deals with issues of teen sexuality and child abuse. Also in the section you are reading, the character based on my brother starts to sing about how he wants to date boys and girls. You know the principle has been having a minor panic attack since he found out the captain of his basketball team is bisexual."

"He's not the only one. Nicholas's aunt and uncle, who he lives with, do not want him to be friends with Jimmy anymore. Apparently they think homosexuality is contagious. Jimmy's stepfather is not exactly that happy that his son likes boys and girls. He's trying to tell himself that it's just a phase since Jimmy is dating me now." At that moment Sharpay remembered that her father who is sitting next to Chad most likely didn't know that his son liked boys too. She looked over expecting her father to be shocked but he wasn't.

"I already know. I walked in on him making out with his little friend James/Justin or something like that last year. We never did tell your mother. Maybe I can mention it at the divorce hearing in a few weeks. "

"Ryan had a boyfriend last year and I didn't know? I barely knew about Kelsey. We didn't have a James or Justin at our school last year."

"He worked at the club. He was the one with the floppy hair. He is sitting with your ex boyfriend over there." Her father pointed to Jason Cross who happened to be sitting next to Marc. She saw Kim sitting with the group. She also saw what looked like an argument between Amanda and Zeke.

"OK we really were the worst friends ever." Chad said as he grabbed his cell phone and passed it to her. Everyone else was too busy playing with her phone. There's no way she was having this conversation in front of everyone. She quickly dragged Chad out to the lobby with her.

"Why didn't you tell me you dated Jason?" Sharpay said to her brother on the phone as soon as she and Chad were in the lobby.

* * *

"Don't follow me Zeke. Just get the fuck away from me." Amanda said the moment he caught up with her in front of one of the snack bars.

"No. I am not leaving."

"You will if I hit you. I'm sure I can do as much damage as your ex girlfriend."

"Which one? Penelope is better at physical torture, but Sharpay is much more proficient with psychological torture."

"I'm not sure that it matters. The fact that you had both girlfriends at the same time is a problem in itself."

"I'll be the first one to admit that situation was bad. I've apologized to both Penelope and Sharpay. They are both working their way to forgiving me. But, you can't let go. Why are you so angry on their behalf?"

"If you have to ask, then you will never figured it out."

"I already know." He said giving her an earth shattering kiss. At least it was shattering to her world view. After she pulled away she ran in the ladies room until she heard shouting outside 15 minutes later.

* * *

"Hello to you too sister?" Ryan said into his phone as he sat in the back of the cab with a couple of his other friends. It was a little before 10 and they were heading out to their second club of the night.

"Don't play innocent with me. Daddy just told me you dated Jason in high school and never told me. We are twins. We tell each other everything." He rolled his eyes at that comment.

"The term dating only applies when you actually go out in public together. Jason was too big of a closet case for us to have a real relationship, which is why we broke up before the big game senior year. However, we actually managed to stay friends. I don't consider what we had as a real relationship. I don't even count him as an ex. We never really got past the making out with each other when I was supposed to be helping him with his homework phase."

"That explains why his grades were so low senior year."

"Very funny sister. I wish I did sleep with Jason before Kelsey; he probably would have been a much better first time. He was a much better kisser, but then again so was your boyfriend and he was petrified at the time."

"Chad don't make that face. I didn't need to know that. I'm so upset about the fact you kissed my boyfriend before I did. I see there's still no love lost between you and Kelsey." His sister quipped.

"Let's not mention Kelsey. I had to deal with her and her girlfriend making out at the first club we were at tonight. At least the break up with Jason was less traumatic. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It was something really personal and Jason didn't want anybody to know. I just wasn't ready for it to be spread all over school back then. You know how our school was."

"Considering what some of the idiots are doing to jimmy this semester I understand. I am your sister, I'm not going to spread it all around campus."

"You really can't say anything. You never told me about mom hitting you or your ex boyfriend doing you know what." He knew that was a low blow but he didn't care. He was still mad about her keeping secrets from him for so long.  
"Okay, be that way. Are you with Taylor?" Sharpay asked quietly.

"She stayed on campus this weekend to catch up from missing three days of classes. For her political science class she needs to write a five page paper about the entire inauguration due Monday."

He wouldn't tell his sister this but he wondered if that was just an excuse. During their last two days in DC Taylor was really quiet. They've hardly talked in five days except for one phone call where she told him that she got back okay and wasn't coming up this weekend.

The only physical contact she would allow other than the occasional hug was during sex. He had no idea what was going on because she wouldn't talk to him. He was starting to wonder how equal this relationship really was. They had much better communication when they were just friends.

"Just so you know Jason is at the tournament sitting next to Marc. Anybody who knows Marc knows he only goes to basketball games to keep Nikki company when they're making fun of the other cheerleaders. So maybe there's hope for him yet." By the way, Sharpay switch subjects he wondered if she was hiding something as well.

* * *

90 minutes into the double date from hell, he wanted to run away or at the very least punch out Gabriella's date. At first things were going well. He and Gabriella were getting better at being around each other just as friends.

He was showing Gabriella pictures of Alex playing on the Albert Einstein statue in DC when her date showed up. That is when things started to go downhill. Actually things started going downhill when Troy noticed Daniel checking out Gabriella's ass.

On the way to pick up Gabriella earlier Madison told Troy about how great a guy Daniel was. Troy was personally convinced that was an act to get into Gabriella's pants after spending just a few minutes with the guy. Daniel spent more time looking at Gabriella's ass than actually talking to her. Actually right now he was trying to grab said ass. He was using teaching Gabriella a better way to Bowl as an excuse to touch parts of her anatomy that he shouldn't.

Daniel wasn't exactly happy that this was a double date. He was even more unhappy when he found out Troy was Gabriella's ex boyfriend. Finding out that Troy was essentially married to someone else didn't defuse the situation.

Daniel was currently irritated because Gabriella was not the easy mark he thought she was. She saw right through all his tricks. Gabriella was at Stanford on a scholarship, did he really think she was that stupid? Fortunately, for him his cell phone rang and he didn't have to keep watching this idiot tried to grope his ex girlfriend. Thank god Chad called.

"How's the game going?"

"No hello or how are you doing? You're as bad as your girlfriend."

"I need something to distract me. Madison talked me into going bowling with her so I wouldn't stay home and cry over not playing tonight."

"That's not so bad. You like bowling and Madison."

"It would be nice if we weren't functioning as the chaperons for Gabriella's date." He listened to his best friend laugh at him for an unnecessary amount of time. At this point Troy decided to go to the snack bar to order a chocolate milkshake.

"You're watching your ex girlfriend go out with someone else. That's just too Funny."

"It's not funny. At this point it is more like I'm watching my ex girlfriend smacked somebody's hands away. Actually, that part is funny. Madison is already trying to figure out a way to get this horrible date over with as quickly as possible. Now that I'm up here at the snack bar, maybe I should order a slice of pizza. I think the trip to the emergency room would be worth getting out of this."

"It can't be that bad. I'm sure it's better than having to sit next to Sharpay's father the entire time. Sharpay is too busy working on her short story to realize that her dad has been threatening me with bodily harm because of Tuesday."

"You do remember Christmas with the Kim's right? I actually did get my girlfriend pregnant."

"He looked ready to kill you."

"That was a vast improvement on the Vegas visit. So how is the game going? Kim sent me a text message at the beginning of the first game when she told me that my mom was there making out with the West High coach."

"We all saw your mom all over that dick. I personally think it was a head game. Her being there didn't bother your father at all. I'm sure my mom has been sending him text messages the entire time. The East and West game started a few minutes ago. We're currently ahead by eight points."

"It's good to know moms latest head game did not work. Why did you call? Shouldn't you b e paying attention to the game?"

"I'm trying to avoid my future father in law. Mostly I called to find out if you knew who Sharpay's brother's boyfriend was in high school?" Troy knew all about the Jason and Ryan thing because Jason told him. Jason knew about Troy's sec ret relationship with Kim and knew he would understand.

"Yes."

"Was I in my own little world in high school?"

"Pretty much," Troy said as he grabbed his milkshake off the counter. He was walking back when he saw Gabriella smacking her date upside the head.

"Hey I have to go. I need to be a good chaperone and keep Gabriella from getting arrested." Troy said as he took a drink of his milkshake.

"That's okay. I have to go too. It looks like there's one more unwanted parent at this thing and he brought a new girlfriend with him." He heard Chad say as he ended the call.

His milkshake didn't taste quite right. It felt like he tasted something else besides the chocolate. He realized that different taste was strawberry when he felt his throat begin to close up.

* * *

She left her boyfriend talking to Troy as she went to look for something edible that wasn't deep fried or covered in butter. It was best if she let them have best friend time alone. Apparently, her best friend and child were on the same mission.

"Are you having fun hanging out with my ex boyfriend and my friend who is now dating him. How's the avoidance going?"

"You do realize that they don't even know they are dating? There currently around here arguing somewhere or maybe they're just making out. I wasn't avoiding you. I'm just trying to avoid more parental angst. How are things going with your father?"

"He hasn't actually tried to kill Chad yet. Penelope kidnapped my I phone. She saw the draft of the short story and liked it. At least that got her mind off her ex boyfriend dating someone else. Several people have suggested that we adapt it for the spring musical."

"It wouldn't hurt to try. We change all the names."

"Agreed. I refused to let anybody go through the torture of playing shiny happy Gabriella."

"Speaking of people named Gabriella that you hate; Madison did send me pictures of Gabriella's date from hell."

"How can you deal with Troy hanging around her?" Sharpay asked as she started to see pictures of Gabriella and Troy together from earlier.

"The same way you can deal with Taylor and Chad text messaging each other all the time. I trust Troy. From what I understand, the current Gabriella is more tolerable and less Mary sunshine perky. I blame all the good drugs. If we're going to do the play I probably should call and ask Troy and Gabriella if their okay with your idea."

When Kim dialed Troy's number Gabriella picked up. "Why are you picking up my boyfriend's phone?" The only word she could pick up from Gabriella side of the conversation were unconscious and milkshake. She could tell from Kim's facial expressions the situation was bad. Before she could ask Kim what was going on she heard yelling and screaming coming from where she left her boyfriend a few minutes ago.

She could see Chad fighting with his father. Why was he even here? He was currently telling the guy to fuck off. Before she could get there, she saw her boyfriend knock his father unconscious.

"I cannot take you anywhere, can I?" She asked her boyfriend in annoyance. Maybe they should have stayed home.


	34. Danforth Family Values

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. It is a miracle. I wrote a chapter under 5000 words. The chapter just naturally broke there. Since the creative juices are still flowing I hope to update soon if I am motivated.

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Chapter 34: Danforth Family Values

January 27, 2009

Chad sat in his therapist's office wondering exactly how Sharpay and his future father in law talked him into coming. It must have happened about the exact same time he posted bail early Sunday morning. After everything that happened in the last few days, Sunday morning seems like a million years ago. He really did not have time for this right now.

"What do you want to talk about?" The doctor asked with clipboard in hand.

"Nothing. I rather be with my girlfriend. The thought of actually sleeping seems like a good idea before things get worse. I have not had more than a few hours sleep since Friday. Unfortunately, if I don't talk to you I won't be doing the more vernacular type of sleeping with my girlfriend anytime soon."

"So you and Sharpay finally slept together?"

"I know you already know that because you had a session with Sharpay last week. Just so you know she did orgasm multiple times." He said with a half smile just to annoy her.

"I know, but I tried to pretend I don't. Since your sex life isn't the issue this time, we don't need to talk about it. We can start with your sleepless night Saturday or your sleepless night Sunday?"

"Technically the real stuff didn't happen until Sunday morning."

* * *

**January 25, 2009 2:31 AM**

He was expecting his girlfriend or maybe even his future stepfather to get him out of jail. Instead, it was his future father-in-law and one of his mom's lawyer friends that Mr. Evans just happened to have on permanent retainer that got him out. They didn't say a word to him until they got to the car.

"Seriously Chad we all know your father is an absolute dick. We've all wanted to punch him from time to time. Most of us know better." These words came from Rebecca Carter as soon as they got in the car. He has known Rebecca since he was six and she would come over to his house to go over test questions with his mom.

"It was an impulse reaction. Last time I did this I didn't get arrested and I did it in front of that entire side of the family." He said in his defense.

"You were not 18 at the time. In addition, your dad wasn't trying to get something from you. As soon as he pressed charges, your asshole father called up your mom and told her that he would drop all the charges if you would go back to playing basketball." Rebecca told him.

"That is all this is about. That's all he's ever cared about. He is only ever been happy if I'm in a basketball uniform. He has never cared about me. He only married mom because Grandpa Sanchez brought out a gun. I doubt he loved Tiffany either. He didn't even bother calling her after she left. He comes all the way here with his brand new barely older than me girlfriend just to try to get me to do something that I don't want to do. There are moments where I wish mom was Tiffany and left his ass before I was even born. Sometimes I think it would be better if I never knew that man was my father." He was beyond angry as he said this.

"There are other reasons why he's here. I don't want to get into it without Tiffany being present. She's waiting for us at Kim's house."

"How upset is my girlfriend?"

"Furious, but at your father not you." Mr. Evans said finally. "She is currently trying to decide who was more evil, your father or her mother."

"Darby still wins. He never hit me. I guess I should be thankful for that." For the rest of the car ride they stayed silent as they made it to the neighborhood just outside of campus.

The first thing he noticed when they reached Kim's house was Mrs. Kim's car was waiting in front. Mr. Kim and Mrs. Kim were both there with baby Alex in the living room. Then again so was Jack who was most likely talking on his cell phone with his mother. He really didn't have time to comprehend Kim bringing suitcases with her, because Sharpay was kissing him. The scene was broken by Sharpay slapping him moments later.

"What were you thinking? Did you have to hit your father? He is just like Darby. He is always looking for something that will hurt you. Are you okay? Did you have any problems in jail?"

"Jail was fine. The officer in charge knew mom from her time at the D A's Office. Also apparently, everybody in the city and possibly County know how evil my father is. There's a reason why your dad was able to post bail on a Sunday morning." He reassured her.

"Your bail was also dirt cheap. Your mom really does know almost every judge in Albuquerque."

"Judge Alena Suarez loves you and hates your father." Rebecca said with a smile.

"It was Alana. She loves me. She was mom's faculty adviser in law school. She used to keep candy in her office just for me and Troy."

"As much as I enjoy this trip down memory lane, I have to catch a plane in an hour. Can we please get to the important part?" Kim said putting her suitcases on the porch.

"Why are you leaving?"

"About the time you were punching out your father, Troy accidentally drunk a milkshake containing strawberries. Fortunately he only drank enough for just his throat to close up."

"I just spoke to him before then." He said in shock, not comprehending what was going on.

"Apparently right after he hung up with you he drank the tainted milkshake. Gabby told me what happen before they even had him to the hospital."

"How did he accidentally drink a strawberry milkshake?" He asked in confusion.

"Here's the best part." Kim says sarcastically. "Apparently James's girlfriend who absolutely hates Troy worked at the snack bar at the bowling alley they just happen to be at. Apparently the whole team knew about Troy's really bad strawberry allergy because they wouldn't let anyone eat strawberries when he was around. James apparently told his girlfriend. She thought it would be a funny prank to put strawberry ice cream into Troy's chocolate milkshake. My boyfriend is in ICU thanks to her stupidity. The little girl has a broken nose and maybe facing attempted murder charges. I'm flying out now with Vanessa and Jack is coming with Alex as soon as the game is over."

"I would go now and let the assistant coach take over for tonight's game, but your mom asked me to stay here until she got here."

"Mom is coming? You won last night. That's good. Who broke the girls nose?"

"Gabriella." Everybody said at the same time.

"Fortunately, unlike your father snack bar girl had the good sense not to press charges." Sharpay said sitting down on the couch. Just then, Chad noticed the two unknown people sitting in the room.

"I guess we should get this thing started." Chad's lawyer said out loud. "This is detective Gerdin who was hired by Kim to investigate several things including your father. This is my colleague Ms. Wood who was working on Tiffany's custody case involving your two siblings."

"Why exactly are they here?"

"Chad did you ever wonder why your dad wanted to marry me so badly and raised two children together until I said no to the marriage? Did you ever wonder why he just wanted nothing to do with me afterwards?"

"I just figured it was because he was a dick." As soon as he said that he felt a slap at the back of his head.

"Not in front of the baby." Sharpay hissed as she pointed to Alex.

"That's true, but it's more than that."

**

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Present

"So here's the twist to this entire situation. Tiffany's now very wealthy "mom" Victoria Williams did not want illegitimate grandchildren. Let's say she was one of those smart people who bought into Google early. She offered my dad $500,000 to married Tiffany before the babies were born. Of course, it was to be paid out over the course of a five-year marriage. When the five years were up he will divorced Tiffany and leave her susceptible to remarry the person her mom really wants her to marry. Tiffany's mom is almost in the same league as Sharpay's mom."

"How does this revelation make you feel about your father?"

"I'm not sure. I did not exactly have a very good opinion of him before everything that happened this weekend. It's worse now. He was never around growing up except to go to my basketball games. He cheated on mom and tried to excuse it by blaming her friendship with Jack."

"Jack is your mom's current boyfriend right?"

"I don't know if boyfriend is the right term. I'm thinking they are best friends who love each other and have sex. I try not to think about the last part because it is just too disturbing."

"Why is it disturbing?"

"Do you want to think about your parents having sex?"

"No,"

"Jack has always been my dad where it counted. He's the one who taught me how to ride a bike. He is the one I go to for advice. Even though it's been a little awkward lately, I have been there almost every day talking about having to quit the team and just adjusting. When I was little I wished he was my father. Can we talk about my Jack issues later? Let me finish the rest of the story."

"Continue,"

* * *

**January 25, 2009 3:54 AM**

After the explanation from the lawyers, the private detective, and Tiffany he went upstairs to the guest room to think for a few minutes. He felt completely overwhelmed.

His best friend was in the hospital. His father was out to get him just for the purposes of getting him to play basketball again. The fact that his father only wanted his new children if they came with a very large paycheck unnerved him. He wanted to throw something but did not feel like breaking his cell phone again.

He felt overwhelmed as he sat motionless on the bed. Then he felt Sharpay move beside him and wrapped her arms around him without saying a word. He felt peaceful for a moment.

"Did Kim get off okay?" He asked moments later.

"Mr. Kim is driving her and Vanessa to the Airport. They manage to get on a 5:05 AM flight to San Francisco. If everything goes well she hopes to be at his hospital room before 9:00 AM. She said she would call us as soon as she gets there."

"Thank you for not asking if I'm okay."

"I know you. You're not okay and neither am I. What are you thinking?"

That I of the most screwed up father in history."

"Most people think that. I thought that of my father too." He heard Jack say from the doorway.

"I'm sure your father never took a bribe to be a parent."

"My father didn't have Lucy to set a bad example. I'm sure he got the ideal from her. I would ask you if you were okay, but I know the answer to that question. Although if I don't ask your mom will get upset." He said taking the seat across from the bed.

"You know you don't have to stay here. If you want to go to San Francisco now, you can."

"Kim is on her way there and she actually has power of attorney. Besides I need to take care of my other child right now."

"I guess it probably would be better for Alex if he wasn't there right now."

"I mean you." He said with a smile.

* * *

"So how did it make you feel to know that jack sees you as another son?" His therapist asked him.

"It felt great in a way. At least I know that one man wants me to be his son even if my biological father only saw me as his personal piggy bank."

* * *

"You say that now, but that's only because you probably want to marry my mom someday. At least you are not asking for 0.5 million for the privilege. So what did my dad asked for to take care of me?" He asked as a joke but the serious expression on Jack's face told him the he was too close.

"What did he ask for? Grandpa Suarez was wealthy and well connected. A couple of grand to keep him from being the laughing stock of New Mexico was nothing for him. It would have been a small price to pay to keep everything quiet. Grandpa Suarez did not handled my existence anywhere near as well as you handled the existence of Alex." That was the understatement of the millennium.

"He did make the down payment on your parents' house later on, but he did that for all of your aunts and uncles. I think the literal shotgun and the threat of having him arrested on statutory rape charges was enough to get your father to comply. He was six years older then your mom. At least Kim is less than three years older than Troy." He knew there was more to it than that.

"Then why do you seem so upset?"

"If I knew at the time what your father was doing, I would have let you stay here." Jack said cryptically. "Your mom didn't tell me until we started dating."

"What are you talking about?"

"Maybe you should talk to your mom when she gets in around 11 our time. She's already on the flight here." Chad could tell when Jack was hedging. He was obviously hedging now fully aware that he said too much.

"Just tell me what happened?" He asked almost pleadingly.

"You know that the courts awarded your mom full custody after the divorce?"

"I know, but she didn't want to uproot me senior year so dad agreed to let me stay with him."

"You know that your mom would do anything if it was in your best interest. She loves you that much. However, after what your father did, she just couldn't stay in New Mexico any longer. She knew moving you to DC during your last year of high school would hurt you. She couldn't do that to you. Your father only agreed to let you stay with him if your mom gave him the house worth well over half a million and 4000 a month in child support." As soon as the man who was his real father in everything but blood said the words Chad saw red.

"That's like a third of her salary. I never saw any of that." Chad practically screamed. "That explains the tiny apartment. He did not even pay for that house, mom did. They told me that they split the money from the house. I guess that was another lie." He said getting up from the bed. He was so angry the urge to throw something returned.

"That explains all the arguing and yelling the first time I met your parents post divorce. Jack can you please give us a little time? Tell Tiffany that will talk to her in the morning.

"Sure, she probably needs to go to sleep anyway being almost nine months pregnant. I will talk to you in the morning."

As soon as he was gone Sharpay locked the door and pulled him into a tight embrace. He was shaking in her arms. "Chad you need to calm down." She said as she pulled him back to the bed and started to remove his T shirt.

"If I knew, I would have went to DC just to spite him." He said as he let Sharpay pull his tee shirt over his head. He felt so numb.

"I know baby." He heard Sharpay's say as he felt her lips caress his shoulder. "He doesn't deserve you."

"He never loved to me." He was crying at that moment. Being around her made it okay to let go.

"That's because he's incapable of loving anyone but himself. He never loved you, your mom, are even Tiffany because he never had a heart to begin with. Everything was always about him. It doesn't matter. Your mom loves you so much that she would do anything for you. Jack loves you probably just as much as he loves Troy. You really are Troy's brother and always have been even though I sometimes wonder if it's more than brotherly love." She said with a laugh trying to break the tension

"Just because I'm aware that another guy is aesthetically pleasing doesn't mean I want to sleep with him. It would be too awkward anyway because we really are like brothers and he is almost married to Kim who is becoming another good friend. I'm just worried. I didn't think the thing with James was that bad."

"Who knows? Maybe kim's mom was pulling strings. She tried to kill Kim once. Why not try with Troy? Everything's going to be okay though. It's not the first time someone accidentally gave Troy something with strawberries in it. Do you remember in eighth grade when that desperate little girl Samantha or something gave Troy a box of dry chocolate strawberries but said they were dried cranberries?"

"He looked like a balloon, once he started breathing again."

"He was fine then. He will be fine now." Sharpay said kissing him on the mouth, her tongue mingling with his.

"However, the person who loves you the most is me. I'll always love you and I'll always want you." As she said the words, he felt her hand slowly undo his pants.

"As much as I really want to do this it is after 4:00 AM." Before answering him verbally he felt her completely pull down his pants and boxer shorts.

"If we don't do this you are not going to fall asleep tonight. You're too tense baby. If you don't fall asleep, I am not going to fall asleep. Just relax." Before he could protest he felt a very hot mouth around his already half hard member.

**

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The present

"We're just going to fade to black right there. You don't really need to know how my girlfriend got me into an orgasm induce sleep. Even though she was making at all about me, she did orgasm several times."

"I wasn't going to ask. I'm already well aware that you are a firm believer in reciprocation. It's just whenever you talk about Sharpay, you seems so happy."

"She makes me happy. Sometimes she is the only thing that makes sense. Sometimes she is the only thing that keeps me sane. I don't know if I would have made it these last few days without her."

"I can understand that these last few days have been very hard for you. How is Troy doing now?"

"Better now. I talk to him on the phone this morning. The first day was bad because he was unconscious because of all the drugs. It was made worse by Lucy.

* * *

**January 25, 2009 8:58 AM**

Sharpay woke up to the shocking sounds of Kim's ring tone. She looked at the time on the phone and frowned. She fell asleep less than 3 hours ago. Her mind and body still felt sore and disjointed. She was hoping that Chad would stay asleep, but he started to wake up as soon as she began to move.

"Hello Kim what's going on?"

"I would tell you, if I knew. Can you get my father in law?

"You wake me up for that?"

"It is emergency. I don't know how she found out but Lucy is here and has the doctors convinced I'm some crazy ex girlfriend. They won't even let me see him." She actually heard Kim crying. The sound was unnerving.

"You have power of attorney." She said in shock.

"Unfortunately, my boyfriend ended up at one of the more backwater hospitals in the area. Vanessa is contacting her friend who is a lawyer in the area but I need Jack. I called his home number but I didn't get an answer and his cell phone is probably dead because it's going to voicemail.

"If you called your home phone he probably would have picked up. He is in your room with Alex, because all the guest rooms are occupied." Sharpay said pulling herself out of Chad's embrace as she walked over to Kim's bedroom.

"I will give him the phone."

"Thank you"

After she gave her phone to Jack she stood there and watch the conversation. In seconds she saw her normally calm former gym teacher becoming incensed.

"I can't believe she would use Troy like this. She shouldn't even be there. It's a violation of her bail agreement." She heard him yell. At that moment she felt arms circle her.

"What's going on?" She heard Chad ask.

"Lucy is trying to win most evil person of the year. Somehow she got to Troy and is keeping Kim away."

* * *

Jack and Alex were on the first plane to San Francisco as soon as he knew what was happening. He crossed paths with my mom at the Airport."

* * *

**January 25, 2009 10:57 AM**

Caroline quickly wrapped her arms around her boyfriend not caring who in the Airport would see her. She placed a quick kiss to his mouth offering him whatever comfort she could. She then kissed her grandbaby on the forehead.

"Thank god you're plane arrived 10 minutes early otherwise I wouldn't get to see you." He said holding her as he kept Alex from running away.

"I wish I could come with you."

"I wish you were coming with me. However, Chad needs you here. Who knows what Charles could do."

"I wish our children were in the same city. This would be so much easier."

"They are our children aren't they?"

"Pretty much.

"Now all we need is the marriage license and adoption papers." He joked.

"Did you just propose to me?" He would do this right now.

"Maybe."

"Later. Go. Call me as soon as you get there. I love you." She said kissing him one last time.

"I love you too."

* * *

"By the time he got there the hospital administrators were just starting to believe the power of attorney documents. They really believed everything when the cops came to arrest Lucy for violating her bail by crossing state lines without court permission."

"Unfortunately this sort of thing happens a lot. It is best to be thankful that nothing of consequence happened.

"I think the fact that Troy had to go get a restraining order against his own mother is something of consequence."

"I can see your point there."

"Then again I had to do the same thing against Charles after what happened Sunday night. You have probably seen it in the papers. "Man Pushes Pregnant Ex-Girlfriend Down stairs at Best Restaurant in the City." "Battered trophy Girlfriends Still in coma after Delivering Babies by Emergency Caesarean."

"There's usually more to a story then sensational headlines. What happened at the restaurant?"

**To Be Continued**


	35. Baby Steps

Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I know it has been a while. I blame nasty writer's block and multiple cases of sore throat. I'm currently looking for a beta to proofread this story and yell at me to stop working on my Star Trek stories, so that I can finish this relatively soon.

I just realized I have been using a different spelling of Jimmy then used in cannon. I have decided I will just keep spelling the named the same way for the sake of consistency.

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Chapter 35: Baby Steps

**December 25, 2008 1:33 PM**

Chad stood in front of the Jackson house poised to knock as he held his fiancée's hand firmly.

"I hope this goes better than Thanksgiving." Chad mumbled under his breath. He was going to have nightmares about that holiday for a very long time. Chad was just glad he got out of visiting Aunt Claudia this Christmas.

"Anything has to be better than Thanksgiving. All we have to do is go when give Tiffany and Kerri their Christmas presents and leave before the family drama begins." Sharpay said firmly just as Tiffany opened the front door. It was obvious that a family Christmas wasn't in session. There wasn't even music or a tree.

"Where is everybody?" Chad asked quickly.

"My aunt has a double shift at the hospital and my cousin is probably showing her boyfriend that girls give good BJs too." Tiffany said sarcastically as she ushered the two into the house.

"That such a mean thing to say about your cousin." Sharpay said stepping inside.

"You're right. There probably just making out, not that my aunt would care. Jimmy dragged my cousin to be his support for the 'guess what mom and dad I am bisexual' conversation. Jimmy's parents actually care about him. The whole thing at the beginning of the year was caused because my aunt was too busy with her job to see what was going on with her daughter. Now that I'm here she's spending even more time at work. So while my aunt is taking care of other people's children, I am the one putting condoms in my Cousins Christmas stocking because I don't want her to end up like me." Tiffany said as she took a seat in the living room.

"Trust me I get it. This is probably the first Christmas in forever that daddy was actually there." Sharpay said with a touch of anger. "Anyway we brought you your Christmas presents and more baby things." Sharpay said handing her a huge bag filled with packages and gift cards. Sharpay probably spent at least a thousand dollars on Tiffany's Christmas present alone.

"Chad your girlfriend is like a one woman baby shower. I think the twins have had enough from their pseudo big sister. Really, I don't have any more space for presence. After you dropped off your old cribs, I think we barely have room to move. I think I'm going to have to look into getting somewhere else to live."

"Shopping makes me happy." Sharpay said with a smile.

"Give me a minute." Tiffany said as she got up from the couch and walked into the other room. She came back and handed Chad and Sharpay a legal envelope along with two neatly wrapped presents.

"Gift cards usually come in smaller packages." Chad said as he fingered the envelope.

"It's not that kind of gift. Blame your mom and Kim stepmom for being beyond legally paranoid." Tiffany said as the pair opened their envelope. Being the son of a lawyer, he could recognize a contract or a legally binding agreement blindfolded.

"You got me custody papers for Christmas?" Chad asked slightly shocked.

"More like joint custody papers. I'm sure you probably could understand legalese by the time you were six but let me paraphrase everything for your girlfriend. You know I was going to let you have full access to the twins even after I go back to Cleveland to finish my last year. However, your mom suggested we put it in writing in case something happened to me. Chad and I and by extension Sharpay, would have joint legal custody but I would have primary physical custody."

"My mom is way too paranoid." He said with a sigh, but he could see the logic in it.

"I think your mom just wanted all the legal basis covered, which means you can't sign until next week if you want to. It was my idea for the second part of the arrangement. I don't trust my mom at all and if something were to happen to me I would not want her to get custody of the twins. I also don't want Charles to try to get them back for selfish reasons. I don't want that to happen. If something were to happen to me I want you and Sharpay to raise the babies." Chad's mouth was opened in shock. He didn't know what to say, but Sharpay already knew the perfect answer.

"Where do we sign?" Sharpay said grabbing a pen from the nearby table.

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January 28, 2010 10:32 PM Pacific time

Kim was trying to sleep in her bed at her and Troy's California house for the first time this week after Troy, Gabriella, and Madison kicked her out of Troy's hospital room near hours after they actually got Jack on a plane. Troy argue that there was no point of her staying there anymore now that he was basically okay and most likely going home tomorrow or Friday at the latest. Then he reminded her that she had a week's worth of work to catch up on that Amanda so graciously agreed to e-mail her.

Too bad Chad had his own week from hell to contend with, because Kim could not read the handwriting of the person Amanda got the physic's notes from. She would have to play the 'my fiancée almost died because someone tried to kill him' card with her professor Monday to get his notes. The only good thing is because Jack was with her in California up until today, her absence will not go against her student teaching time.

Sometimes it pays to have your almost father-in-law be your teaching mentor. He was actually pretty good at it despite principled Dave throwing him in the deep end. She was currently trying to convince Jack to go back and get his doctorate in education. He was much more qualified to teach future teachers then half of her professors.

20 minutes ago, she gave up on actually studying after the pages started to look fuzzy and was unsure which class she was actually studying for any more.

She went down the hall to talk to Gabriella for a few minutes, but really didn't want to interrupt her. Gabriella missed a lot of classes this week as well keeping her company or watching Alex. It was hard to think of Gabriella as the enemy when she was so helpful.

It also helps that the two have come to an understanding. They are also both convinced that Lucy is crazy and have the mutual mission to prove it. The old adage 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' has never been more true.

When Kim returned to her room, she tried sleeping. That wasn't going so well. It felt weird being in this bed without her lover.

Just as she was about to turn on the TV she heard her phone. From the ring tone, she could tell it was Chad. That was surprising. Kim expected him to either be sleeping or busy with baby things. She could not believe what happen Sunday night. Maybe she shouldn't be that surprise because that was almost exactly what happened to her except she didn't go into a coma nor was her babies daddy responsible for putting her in a vegetative state. It was her mother who tried to kill her. Vanessa had a minor panic attack when she found out what happened.

"Shouldn't you be following the first rule of parenting, getting sleep while you can?" She said as way of greeting.

"I would if they were actually sleeping." Chad said in a very tired voice. "Unfortunately, the twins are not sleepy. I'm feeding Olivia as Sharpay changes Isaac's diaper. Isaac is her favorite sense he's the oldest."

"Yes by a whopping 3 minutes." Isaac Miguel Jackson was born at 11:59 PM on January 25. Olivia Sharpay Jackson was born at 12:02 AM on January 26. Both were delivered by emergency C section after Charles Danforth either intentionally or accidentally pushed his pregnant ex girlfriend down a flight of stairs.

Chad was the only one who was there at the time and he wasn't providing any details on what he saw. Sharpay was fortunately in the bathroom with Chad's mother when everything went down Sunday afternoon. Kim knew better than to ask Chad what happened.

Sharpay did not even want to tell her about it. Gabriella actually told her what happen Monday after she woke up once Kim finally crashed on Troy's bed. Kim yelled at Sharpay for a good 20 minutes for not calling her Sunday night.

"Not that I'm not glad to hear from you, but why are you calling? You need more parenting tips." She said jokingly.

"I have great Aunt Claudia and my mom for that. Considering these are the children of the 'other woman', my mom really likes Olivia and Isaac. Also, I think I can now make baby formula blindfolded. I figured I would call you to see if you killed Gabriella yet." Kim had to laugh at that.

"Considering Gabriella is doing homework down the hall to make sure I don't sneak off to Troy's hospital room in the middle of the night on Troy's orders, I don't think that is going to happen. Gabriella has actually been pretty good about everything, even going so far as to bring edible food to the hospital and helping to take care of baby Alex."

She decided this would not be the best time to tell Chad that Gabriella and Madison were moving into the house to keep an eye on Troy after she leaves Sunday.

"You actually trust her with your child?" Chad asked skeptically.

"Yes, I Trust her with my child as long as she's on her medicine. You know she feels guilty about what happened. Didn't you guys use to be friends?" She had enough 'happy' Gabriella stories from Sharpay to know that that was the general impression back in high school. Kim has learned recently Gabriella was a very skilled actress when they came to the stage of life.

"We were never really friends. We got along for Troy's sake. Maybe we were just jealous of each other. It got worse after she posted the almost sex tape to that certain web site. I still have no idea what possessed her to post that on the Internet."

Kim couldn't help but laugh. At some point over the last week in between dealing with a sick fiancé and a psychotic mother in law, Gabriella confessed the real reason why that particular video was posted.

"Why are you laughing?" Chad asked her with a hint of outrage.

"The whole incident was Mercedes' fault not Gabriella's. The biggest bitch at Stanford managed to convince Gabriella that Troy had that particular video for 'private time'." It only took Chad a few moments to figure out what she meant by private time.

"Wait why would she think that? " Chad asked her quickly.

"Without the 'happy pills' Gabriella was starting to believe some of the more interesting rumors about you and Troy. Mercedes convinced her that Troy was cheating on her with you and Sharpay." Kim would have loved to have seen his shocked expression. Unfortunately, the moment was broken by Olivia screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Please be quiet baby. I'm feeding you. Don't scream baby." She heard Chad say to the little girl.

"She probably just needs to be burped. You seriously need to explain to me how you ended up with custody of Olivia and Isaac. I'm surprised no one else in Tiffany's family is taking care of the children."

"You know how Tiffany's aunt is. She can barely take care of Kerri. There's no one else."

"I'm Tiffany's friend and she mentioned nothing about this. Not even when I invited her to stay with me for a few months."

"Most people don't prepare for what would happen to their kids if their ex boyfriend pushes them down a flight of stairs." Chad said with a hint of anger and sarcasm.

"So he did push her?"

"I am not answering that question. I don't want to talk about it."

"You have to eventually."

"Not today. So my best friend really kicked you out of his hospital room?"

"Yes, I think he was mad because I was taking all his covers."

**

* * *

**

January 26, 2009 9:23 AM

Gabriella sat beside Troy's bed as she watched him together on the hospital bed with his 'wife'. Part of her thought that it was cute the other part of her was slightly nauseous. She wondered if her and Troy were that disgustingly cute in high school. She didn't think so because in retrospect she didn't love Troy. Not the real Troy anyway. Maybe she loved the idea of Troy. Maybe she loved the idea of not being alone. She was always a loner before. Due to her mom's job and being sick, Gabriella never had time to make friends until Albuquerque. In retrospect, she got friendship love and romantic love confused.

She blamed herself for Troy being in the hospital. He only went with her Saturday to be a good friend and he ended up in the emergency room. That is why she stayed with him all day yesterday when Troy's crazy mother was trying to keep Kim away.

"Not that I don't enjoy having the company of someone who can talk about something besides what Diego did yesterday, but shouldn't you be in class?" Kim asked her quietly as not to wake up Troy.

"I can miss a class or two. First year classes are not that hard. I don't feel like dealing with the guy who only went out with me so he could fuck me anyway today." Gabriella said that last part in anger.

"Good point."

"Besides, I owed Troy."

"You know this isn't your fault. You were not the one who put the strawberry ice cream in the milkshake knowing full well that it could kill him."

Because of Troy's extreme strawberry allergy the entire Berkeley basketball team was ban from bringing any products containing strawberries on away games or to practice. James knew about the allergy and the deadly consequences. James was the one who told his girlfriend that it would be funny to put strawberries in something Troy ordered when the stupid girlfriend was talking to him earlier in the night.

"I know that he only went with me and Madison to the bowling alley because he felt guilty about breaking up with me to be with you. It was my fault he was there."

"You had no idea that the girl behind the counter was too stupid to know that giving someone strawberries with a severe allergy was a dumb idea. You cannot be blamed for the stupidity of others."

"I owe him anyway. He saved my life once." She said so quietly that she hoped no one would hear it. Of course, Kim did.

"How did that happen?"

"He saved me last year right before graduation. I was not adjusting well to the honors program. The only reason why I apply was because my mom and Taylor made me. The second day on campus I stopped taking my medication because they were making me too sleepy and I felt like I couldn't keep up. I wasn't making friends and I felt completely alone. I was trying to keep up the happy facade for everyone. The best thing about drama class was I learned to fake happiness." She said sarcastically.

"I don't remember those lessons. Sharpay and I had that master well before high school began." Considering what she now knew about Sharpay, Gabriella was convinced that girl was very good at putting on a show. No one knew the true Sharpay Evans in high school.

"A few weeks later, I was supposed to come back for prom. I called Troy and told him that I couldn't come back. The truth was that was goodbye. The night of the prom I was planning on swallowing an entire bottle of pills." She never said that aloud to anyone before.

"Fuck."

"Troy showed up and pulled me back down to earth. That's why I'm here. He saved me and saved me again when I was self destructing in November. That is what friends do."

"Do you still love Troy?" She was caught off guard by the question for a moment.

"Yes, I still love him but not the way you think. It was never romantic even if kissing was involved. I just wanted to not be alone anymore. I think he was lonely too, even if he had Chad. It was like he was missing something or somebody. I guess that something was you."

"I didn't mean to hurt him. It was just too complicated." Kim said not explaining further.

"Lucy made it more complicated."

"Yeah she did. Maybe something good came out of it. She was the one who told Troy to chase after you."

"Sometimes I think she knew something was wrong. She knew I was sick. She was the one who gave my mom a list of the best doctors in the area to treat the bipolar disorder."

"Don't you think that's odd? That's not exactly something everyone would know."

"You have a point. I only know because I'm sick. You don't think…" Gabriella starred to say but cut herself off.

"It's possible. For some unknown reason she hates me even though I have given her no cause. She has always been paranoid. Caroline told me that Lucy always accused her and Jack of sleeping together."

"You mean Caroline, Troy's future stepmom. Even I thought they were sleeping together before. They were much more in sync with each other then Jack and Lucy ever were."

"The actual sex did not start until Thanksgiving, but they've been in love for a very long time." Just then she felt her phone vibrate and went out into the hallway to talk.

"Hello Gabriella's telephone." She said quickly into the device.

"I don't have time for pleasantries. I wouldn't be calling you, if it was not important. Jack said you were with Kim right now." Gabriella instantly recognized the icy voice as belonging to Sharpay. Sometimes she has a hard time believing that Sharpay is as nice as everyone says she is. Gabriella is still a little upset at the girl for stealing Taylor's boyfriend even if Taylor was not.

"Yes. She is cuddling with Troy on the hospital bed. It's adorable."

"Did you take your pills this morning?" Sharpay asked quickly.

"Why does everybody ask me that question? This is why I did not tell anybody in high school."

"Because the last time you went off the 'happy pills' you tried to screw my brother, knocked out Troy's mom, and turned me and my boyfriend into porn stars. I need to know that you are stable. I can ask these questions because I see a therapist twice a week." Of course, Sharpay would see that as justification.

"Considering I saw somebody try to kill one of my friends two days ago I'm okay. I'm sorry about posting that to the Internet. Someday I'll explain to you why, but I know you wouldn't be calling me voluntarily unless someone was dead. Is Chad okay? Kim told me about what his father did. I thought my mom was manipulative."

"Chad's okay. Well as okay, as you can be dealing with a father that is a complete monster that only cares about money and getting off. Actually, I don't even like referring to Charles as Chad's father. Not after last night." At that moment she realized how absolutely tired Sharpay sounded. Sharpay's voice was filled with worry. It was almost scary to hear such a thing.

"What's going on? What happened last night?" Gabriella finally asked.

"Last night after dealing with the lawyers we went to Sarah Lane's for dinner. Charles was there. I was in the bathroom with Caroline when I heard shouting from upstairs. Then it sounded like something was crashing outside the door. I walked outside to see Tiffany, the mother of Chad's new brother and sister, unconscious on the ground with blood seeping through her khaki maternity pants. Chad was on the balcony holding his father down." She knew who Tiffany was. Troy told her about the completely sordid situation months ago.

"Oh my god! Are the babies okay?" Gabriella asked in worry.

"They're fine. Their adorable. They look like Chad except darker with less hair. The little girl is Olivia Sharpay and Chad's brother is Isaac Miguel." Of course, Sharpay would make sure one of the children was named after her.

"That's good. I was worried by the fact you are actually talking to me. I'm still confused about that."

"So am I. Jack told me to. The babies are fine, but Tiffany is not. She's in a coma and the doctors don't know if she's going to wake up." Gabriella actually heard real tears in Sharpay's voice. That scared the hell out of Gabriella.

"I'm sorry. Why didn't you call Kim directly?"

"Tiffany and Kim are really good friends. They have been bonding over the mom thing. Kim was even going to let Tiffany move into her house after the babies were born. I need to tell Kim what happen."

"But you don't know if she can take it?" Gabriella asked finally realizing why Sharpay called her.

"She has been dealing with too much with her mom and Troy's mom. I know she was not handling what happened with Troy very well before Lucy's stunt yesterday. She was in tears yesterday when she called. I don't think she can take one more thing. Jack said you would be there and could judge her mental stability better than he could."

"I believe that was a very nice way of saying that because Kim and I are not really friends yet, she is not going to shield me from the truth." Gabriella said as she stuck her head back into Troy's private room. Kim was completely unconscious lying next to Troy. Honestly, Gabriella was shocked it didn't happen earlier.

"Exactly. Can I speak to her without her completely breaking down?"

"She's asleep. She must have been exhaustive because she was talking to me right before you called. I think she has not slept since she got here." Gabriella said to Sharpay.

"I wouldn't be surprised. She is too busy trying to save the world to save herself. Have her call me or Chad when you think she is ready." Sharpay was off the phone before Gabriella could reply.

Gabriella quickly walked back into the room and pulled one of the spare blankets out of the closet. She quickly spread it over the unconscious Kim.

"Someone needs to take care of you for once." Gabriella said out loud to no one in particular.

**

* * *

**

January 30, 2009

Sharpay sat in her therapist's office tired and smelling of baby puke. No matter how much perfume she applied or how many shower she took she still smelled like babies.

"Sharpay are you sure you're up for a session today? You look like you're about to fall over in your chair."

"Probably, but it's quiet here and I can sleep. I have no problem paying you $200 to take a 1-hour nap right now. It would be worth every penny." She said using humor to deflect her anxiety and exhaustion.

"Yes the joys of being a new parent. How are you adjusting?" The doctor said as she jotted something down in her yellow notepad.

"Chad's trying to think of it as extended babysitting. I guess if he thinks of it as anything else then we'll have to acknowledge that Tiffany may not wake up."

"Do you see this as babysitting?" Stupid therapist for asking tough questions.

"Not really any more. I haven't slept more than 3 hours consecutively for almost a week. I can now mix formula carrying a screaming baby. I really do see myself as their mom now, even if it's only until Tiffany is well."

"How do you feel about being a mom temporarily?"

"I am absolutely petrified. Before Chad, I was never planning to be a mom ever. Not even when I was having fantasies about becoming Mrs. Troy Bolton did I think about children. I didn't want to be Darby. Then I fell in love with Chad and I realize I wanted to have little babies with his goofy hair and my fashion sense. It probably helped that I could take care of Alex without burning down Kim's house."

"Are you still worried about becoming Darby?"

"I don't see myself hitting my children or becoming the ultimate stage monster. Becoming the person who drinks all their problems away, I could see that happening." Sharpay said practically under her breath but her doctor still heard her.

"What happened?"

"Saturday night when Charles had Chad arrested, the first thing I did when we got back to Kim's house was raid her liquor cabinet. Last night Charles showed up at the house. He managed to make bail quite easily and then decided to violate the restraining order by trying to see the new babies. I don't know who yelled more Jack, Caroline, or Chad. I downed a shot of bourbon before Charles was technically off the property."

"Anything after that?"

"No, I had the babies to take care of."

"There lays the difference between you and Darby. You didn't overindulge because you knew you still had responsibilities. Although, I prefer you use a different coping mechanism."

"My other coping mechanisms are not available. Chad is barely talking to me and I am too tired for sex."

"Why is Chad not talking to you? Did you two have a fight?"

"It's not that type of not talking to each other. We're getting along fine. We have to. We have two newborns to take care of. We're not talking about how we feel. Chad will not talk about what happen Sunday. He will not talk to me about Troy being in the hospital. By the way, he's doing better. He actually when home today."

"That's good news."

"Yes, except Chad does not seem to be any less stressed. Did he tell you what happened at the restaurant Sunday? I'm not even sure he told the police everything."

"Sharpay, you know I can't answer that question. Although, Chad did mention something about you bringing baby pictures." Before Sharpay realized it, she was passing her phone over to her therapist so she could see pictures of Olivia and Isaac.

* * *

**January 27, 2009**

"There's usually more to a story then sensational headlines. What happened at the restaurant?" Why did the doctor have to ask that question? Chad really didn't want to answer. He took a deep breath, but still couldn't say a word.

"I'm sure whatever you saw it was difficult for you." The doctor finely said breaking the silence that was becoming stifling.

"I wasn't the one who ended up in a coma." Chad shot back. Humor was always his favorite defense mechanism.

"You don't have to talk about how Tiffany ended up in a coma. I will not make you talk about anything you are not ready to talk about. Let us start with an easy question. Why were you at the restaurant?" The doctor asked using her normal soothing tone of voice.

"We were hungry and my girlfriend cannot even make easy Mac without catching the microwave on fire. After spending the day with the lawyers in an effort to figure out how to beat my dad, we didn't want to risk giving my mom food poisoning or forcing her to cook. Therefore, we went to a restaurant. Unfortunately, my father happened to be at the restaurant with Aunt Claudia. Said restaurant also had two floors."

"I heard the story involving that extra crunchy macaroni and cheese in the find water sauce. I personally can't believe you actually consumed it." Just then, he heard his cell phone signify a text message from Sharpay. It simply read, "They are letting the babies go home today, bring car seats. XO Pay."

Chad had never been more happy to receive a text message from his girlfriend in his entire life.

"That was Sharpay. I think we are going to have to cut this session short. I need to get to the hospital."

"I understand. It's difficult when a family member is sick."

"What's even more difficult is I now have two infants to take care of." He said with a sigh as he got up from the couch.

"What do you mean by that statement?"

"As long as Tiffany is unconscious, Sharpay and I are proud parents two very adorable newborns. I have to go. My brother and sister need me. I will have Sharpay bring pictures when she comes Friday for her session."

* * *

**55 minutes later**

"Please tell me you have both car seats?" Sharpay said as she kissed her boyfriend on the cheek just outside the nursery. She was surprise Olivia Sharpay was not crying as Caroline and grandmother Danforth stood inside the nursery area holding a baby each. Unfortunately, her brother Isaiah Miguel was screaming.

Her baby namesake was born by emergency caesarean on Monday morning at 12:02 AM. Isaiah or Isaac for shore was born exactly three minutes earlier on the 25. Just like her and Ryan, the Jackson twins have the rare privilege of having their own birthday.

Sharpay could tell Chad was worn out, but then again so was she. It wasn't like they were getting much sleep sleeping on the couches in the waiting room and neither one of them could bear to be away from the babies for long. Unlike Chad, at least she was not a live witness to whatever caused Tiffany to be in a coma. That's why she made Chad go to therapy this afternoon.

"I left them in the car. I didn't think they would let us take the babies home so soon. I thought they would keep them longer." So did she. She was hoping that the babies would stay here until Tiffany woke up. According to the Tiffany's doctor, due to the severity of the below to her head Tiffany may be out for a while if she woke up. There was a 47% probability that Tiffany may never wake up from the comma and that terrified her and her fiancé.

"Taylor's mom says as long as the babies are okay they usually let them go home in a day or two. Despite being a few weeks early and being delivered by emergency caesarean, Olivia and Isaac are perfectly healthy. Alexis thinks the babies will thrive better at our house or rather Kim's house with us until we can think of better living arrangements. Alexis did get special permission for us to bring the babies by to see Tiffany every once in awhile." She tried to utilize all her acting skills to appear happy but nothing about the situation made her happy except when she held the two little innocent babies in her arms. The babies were so adorable even if they threw up on her occasionally.

"Was there any change in her condition?" Chad asked gravely. She knew he was talking about Tiffany.

"No." She said quietly before they were interrupted.

"Mr. Danforth and Ms. Evans, I'm glad I found the two of you together. You did bring the car seats?" Yelled the overactive nurse that has been taking care of the babies. Her perkiness was starting to annoy Sharpay. She reminded her too much of shiny happy Gabriella from high school. Even Gabriella isn't that hyper anymore.

They actually manage to get through a 5-minute conversation yesterday when she called Gabriella to see if Kim was mentally stable enough to deal with the news about Tiffany's condition. Gabriella actually sounded genuinely concerned.

"I left the seats in the car. I'm not completely incompetent. I also brought the outfits to bring the babies home in. Yes I did bring the outfits you picked out." Chad said looking right at her before she could ask.

"These are the forms you two need to sign to take your children home." The nurse said as she passed the forms to her and Chad. She felt uncomfortable with anybody referring to the babies as hers even if she has been the one in there with them since the moment they were born. She really did not want to think of the two babies as her and Chad's because that meant they were giving up on Tiffany ever waking up. In a weird way, she still felt like a mom and that scared her.

"Thanks but the twins are Chad's brother and sister not our son and daughter." Sharpay said calmly after giving herself a moment.

"The hospital has you down as their legal parents." The nurse said in a harsh voice.

"If you read the form correctly you'd realize that they were the Jackson babies legal Guardians not parents." Chad's mom said walking behind the two as she handed off a now crying Olivia to Chad. On the bright side, at least Isaac wasn't screaming anymore.

"Same thing." The nurse shrugged.

"Not really." Chad said but the statement lost its effect when Chad was rocking Olivia.

* * *

**January 30, 2009 3:46 PM**

Jack walked into his daughter-in-law's house to the site of his girlfriend rocking her ex husband daughter as her son sat across from her most likely asleep holding the other baby. He quickly walked over and kissed Caroline gently on the lips. It was the perfect ending to his horrible first day back at East High. He wanted to stay in San Francisco, but Troy sent him back once things were more stable.

"Can you grab Isaac from Chad? I think he's going to drop the baby at any moment." She said in a whisper as she stood up from the couch without jostling the baby. He followed her as she went to put the little girl down in the bassinet. His girlfriend quickly grabbed Isaac from him and placed the sleeping boy in the other bassinet.

"Let's go in the kitchen before the babies wake up." She said motioning to the kitchen. "I would go back to your house, but I can't leave my baby all alone with newborns."

"Is it weird taking care of your ex husband's children?"

"Taking care of any child after your only child starts college is awkward. I tried to tell myself that the babies are my grandchildren. Although at my age, that concept is just as disturbing. There is a woman in my office that is three years older than I am and she just had her first child. I don't want grandchildren until I'm 40. Alex doesn't count, because he's adorable." She said with a smile.

"I didn't want grandchildren this early either but they're not so bad. The best part is they go home to mommy and daddy at the end of the day. Of course, in my case mommy lives next door and daddy is in another state."

"Unfortunately, in my case mommy is in a coma and daddy is not legally allowed within 1000 feet of Isaac and Olivia. As you can tell Chad is exhausted and you know Charles showing up yesterday made things worse. Being a college student is hard enough without having newborns." She says with a sigh.

"Where is Sharpay?"

"Therapy. She left when I came back from my meeting with the lawyers and her dad. Do you feel like pizza or Chinese tonight? I'm too tired to cook or go grocery shopping. I don't think there's anything edible left in the refrigerator. Your house is probably worse." She said grabbing a bottled water from the refrigerator.

"Probably, but at least I know how to make macaroni and cheese. I say order whatever is easier to eat when feeding a newborn. How did things go with the lawyers?" Jack asked her.

"Can we talk about that later? I rather hear about your day." She said giving him a gentle kiss.

"I really don't want to talk about it either. Lucy called me six times today. Somehow, she was able to make bail, although I don't know how."

He really didn't want to talk about it or anything involving his miserable day. Lucy was just the beginning of his misery. More and more he was starting to wonder if Gabriella and Kim's theory about Lucy having some sort of mental illness was possibly true. In each call, she seem more and more unbalance. He does not want to see what would happen if Caroline and Lucy met in the grocery store.

After the first two uncomfortable phone calls from his soon to be ex wife, he dealt with his angry boss who essentially blamed him for East High losing to East Santa Fe during the final round of the state championship. Apparently, he was a bad basketball coach for putting the well-being of his child above that of the team.

According to the other team members, they probably would have won that game if the assistant coach didn't keep Jimmy on the bench the entire time. On the other hand, Jimmy has been offered a scholarship to two of the best private schools in the city. Not that Jimmy really cares what happened during the game Sunday because he has been too busy consoling his girlfriend.

His day was completed by writing up half of his drama class for pelting Penelope with water balloons Monday and today. According to Jason, the substitute teacher actually cheered at some point.

He was starting to get tired of the 'be perfect at any cost' mentality of East High. He has seen the damage firsthand. He has personally shocked at how well adjusted Troy was despite becoming a father at 15.

Jack was starting to look at other options. He can probably get a teaching or coaching position at any private school in the city if he tried. If he wanted to, he could go back to school and get his doctorate. Kim offered to pay for it as a 'thank you for taking my side' present if he ever wanted to go back.

Then there was Caroline. He hated being in a different city than her. He knew she didn't want to come back to Albuquerque. There were many schools in Virginia that he could teach at. They were also several universities with good doctorate programs.

"She probably got out the same way Charles did." His girlfriend said bringing his mind back to the matter at hand. "Lucy most likely manipulated some poor unsuspecting family member that only wanted to help. Charle's sister not only put up her house as collateral, but she's currently suing Chad and Sharpay for custody of the children." That was new. He didn't think anybody would be that stupid.

"Charles gave up all parental rights to those children. Neither he nor his sister has a legal leg to stand on. I am not a lawyer and even I know that. He is the reason why Tiffany is in a coma. If anybody was going to challenge Chad and Sharpay's guardianship of the children, I thought it would be Tiffany's mom."

"Tiffany's mom never cared about her daughter. It's all about appearances. She is more worried about her reputation and her investments going south because of the recession. It really does not matter because Vince's lawyers will eat whoever it is alive."

"I wouldn't be surprised. Vince has become more protective of Sharpay after he discovered what really happened with Darby."

"He would move back here if Sharpay was not keeping him at arm's length even if half of the company is based in New York now. He offered me a job today." Caroline said out of nowhere.

"What?"

"Two weeks ago when the kids were up in DC for inauguration, the Evans corporation head of Diversity Programs and EEO made some very nasty remarks about certain minority groups in front of a cell phone camera. Said nasty remarks were posted on everyone's favorite voyeuristic website. Vince was actually in town to deal with the fallout. During the basketball game when he was pretending to threaten my son for deflowering his little girl, Chad practically gave him my resume. With my background in civil rights law along with management experience at my job in DC, I am the perfect candidate to become the new chief of Diversity Programs and EEO at the Evans corporation. Starting salary is 600,000 a year."

"That some job offer."

"The downside is that I would have to split time between here in New York."

"That's still better than splitting time between here and DC. I'm sure there's other positives."

"The salary is nice. If I started working in February, I could have the money for chad's entire college career by June as long as he does not transfer to an ivy league school. I would be back here and I know Chad and Sharpay need my help right now." She said pointing to the sleeping teenager on the couch. Actually, unconscious maybe a more accurate description.

"You're right about that, especially if Tiffany doesn't…"

"Don't even say it out loud. It's too hard to think about." Everyone has been avoiding that particular possibility.

"Sorry. What are the other advantages?"

"An extremely flexible schedule and very generous time off. I actually had to pull out various legal references to get my current boss to OK my extended leave. I have to be back by Valentine's Day unless I accept the new job."

"I had to do the same thing with Dave this morning. Anything else worth coming back to Albuquerque for?"

"I do miss the food." She said laughing.

"I miss you. I think you propose to me Sunday. Did you mean it?" Instead of answering her, he kissed her. Unfortunately, the doorbell started to ring causing one of the children to start screaming. Isaac and Olivia sounded so much alike he was still having difficulty telling the two apart but Chad already knew which child was which.

"Go back to making out. I will take care of Olivia and the door. If Sharpay forgot her keys again I'm going to hurt her." Chad said getting up from the chair to grab his screaming little sister.

"I guess I'll take that as a yes. Now all we have to do was wait for your divorce to be finalized."

"Great." He said sarcastically wondering where if Kim would be willing to buy his ex wife off as his fiancée started kissing him again.

* * *

**January 28, 2009 8:59 AM**

Amanda honestly wasn't expecting to see Chad in class, not after everything that's happened since Saturday. He looked as tired as she felt. In addition to all the Chad related drama, she had her own share of fun this weekend.

After dodging several desperate phone calls from Zeke Sunday, she received a frantic call from Nikki who was in tears for the entire conversation. The last time Amanda heard Nikki cry like that was when her mom died. Once Nikki stopped crying, she explaining why her best friend since the second grade wasn't coming back to college this semester.

Over the weekend, Nikki found out her father was dealing with advance lung cancer. They tried to hide it from Nikki over Christmas and thanksgiving break but failed to do so this weekend due to a very hard round of chemotherapy. Her father and step-mom knew if Nikki found out she wouldn't stay in school and they were right. Marc and Amanda spent the last three days packing her things. They were going to try to drive to her house this weekend.

Added to the stress of the Nikki drama was picking up homework assignments for Kim and Sharpay. At least all the drama helped keep her mind off the Zeke situation.

That was becoming more complicated by the moment. She didn't know what to think. Part of her believed he was an asshole and the other part of her liked him. She enjoyed spending time with him but she didn't want to. She didn't want to hurt her two friends by dating their ex boyfriend. She honestly didn't know what was going on but with Nikki leaving, she just didn't have the time to analyze what it all meant.

Also keeping her mind off the Zeke situation was the fact she kept throwing up all the time. She personally blamed the more horrible than usual cafeteria food. Thankfully, she wasn't working there this semester. Instead, she was a paid intern at Sharpay's dad's company. Being friends with the owner's daughter and the vice president's daughter meant she had a schedule that worked around cheerleading until the season was over with. Her assignment this week as making sure Sharpay still passes despite missing most of her classes.

The downside of throwing up while packing up was mark kept making pregnancy test jokes. She had the sudden urge to punch him. The only person she has slept within months was the one person she was not ready to deal with in any capacity. She was just happy that Kim made her take Plan B, even if the conversation that morning with Troy's mother caused everything to unravel.

No matter how bad things were right now she didn't have Chad's problems. She should be thankful for that. Amanda was pretty sure he's gotten used to the sympathetic looks of his classmates every time something about his family ends up in the paper or on the web.

It was public knowledge that Chad's father pushed Tiffany down a flight of stairs sending her into a coma and that resulted in the twins being born late Sunday night slashed early Monday morning. A violent crime like that was going to make the Albuquerque News.

What was not public knowledge was Chad being arrested Saturday night or his father pressing charges in an effort to manipulate his son. Most people didn't know that Charles was essentially blackmailing Chad into playing basketball again. She managed to get all the gory details from Sharpay yesterday when she dropped off the class assignments.

Instead of thinking about what was going on, she slowly consumed today's sugary treat from Zeke courtesy of his brand new job at a flower shop/bakery just off campus. She hoped Zeke having a new job meant she would see him less often.

She finished the last byte of her 'sinfully bad for you' brownie as Chad walked in to the room looking beyond tired with his hair in a ponytail wearing jeans and a T shirt that said "I love my country, but it's the government I'm afraid of." Amanda honestly wondered how much sleep he's had in the last four days.

"I'm surprise you are here." Penelope said as soon as Chad took the seat next to her. Penelope was always one for bluntness. During the last cheerleading practice, she spent 20 minutes asking her questions about her relationship with Zeke. Much to her disappointment, she learned that both Sharpay and Penelope knew about what happened at the party a few weeks back. Sharpay was just too Busy with everything else to say anything.

"So am I. It's completely futile to resist my mom, Sharpay, Aunt Claudia, and Mr. Evans when they all team up against me. Due to the participation component of this class, I can only miss one more class without doing serious damage to my GPA. I'm going back home after this to be with the twins and maybe get some sleep when they are not crying If they ever stop crying. Olivia will only be quiet when Sharpay, my mom, or I are holding her."

"Their home? Is Tiffany still in a coma? I can't get anything good from Jimmy because he's too busy dodging the idiots on campus who were pissed about East High losing. It was not his fault that for some unknown reason the substitute coach benched him for the entire game." Penelope asked with a bit of irritation. Amanda already knew because she got to see the babies yesterday.

"They came home yesterday. We are staying at Kim's right now because the house is baby proof. My mom and Aunt Claudia are watching the babies while we are in class." Chad said placing his head on the desk.

"I know that Tiffany's mom is a little high strung, but shouldn't someone on her site of family be helping out." Amanda asked Chad gently.

"Tiffany's mom isn't allowed within 1000 feet of the twins, but I doubt she would care anyway. Her lawyers are still meeting with my lawyers to try the work out some sort of visitation agreement. I personally think she's just doing it for show, my aunt Ruth is going to be the real problem. Tiffany didn't want anyone else to take care of her children and I will not violate her wishes. Jackie's mom is too busy with work to even go see her niece who's still comatose. Were interviewing nannies tomorrow sometime after classes I think." Chad's head stayed on his desk until class began. He pretty much ignored Zeke except to give him Kim's phone number so he could check up on Troy.

"What did Tiffany's doctor say?" Amanda asked as soon as they broke up into pairs for the class assignment.

"It doesn't look like there's any major brain damage, but they don't expect her to wake up until the swelling goes down. She still not breathing on her own. It maybe a few weeks, if she does wake up." He looked so bleak when he said that.

"What do you mean if she wakes up? Sharpay did not mention that yesterday."

"It's a possibility. I'm not the premed student that you are, but you know that some people don't wake up from comas."

"This week has been horrible. First everything with your dad, then Troy ending up in the hospital after attempted murder by strawberries, then Nikki is leaving because her dad is sick, and finally Tiffany is in a coma. It's like our lives are a soap opera."

"Wait, back up. What about Nikki? "

"She's leaving school. Her dad is sick. Stage three lung cancer." She said in a whisper.

"Is he going to be okay? Why is she leaving?"

"I don't know. I just think Nikki just rather be there right now in case."

"In case he dies. I get it. I may be in the same situation if Tiffany doesn't wake up."

"What happens to the babies if Tiffany does not wake up?" From his expression, Amanda was sure she asked the one question Chad did not want to answer.

"Legally Sharpay and I become their permanent guardians." Chad said softly not saying anything else as he studied his lines for the exercise that they probably will be performing any moment now.

* * *

**January 30, 2009**

Zeke rang the doorbell of Troy's Wife's house with a bit of trepidation. He could tell just by looking at Chad Wednesday that he was beyond exhausted. He also may have been listening to their entire conversation because his mind automatically fixates on anything involving Amanda. Zeke was sure they could use some help even if it was just a couple of casseroles and a couple of batches of chocolate chip cookies. He also made Sharpay's favorite dessert.

Of course, his motives were not completely pure. Yesterday when he was hanging out with his friend Jason and his new boyfriend, Marc mentioned that Amanda would be coming over that evening to help Chad and Sharpay with the babies.

Amanda was avoiding him again. She was driving him crazy. This week Amanda was being as cold as Siberia in winter. Maybe she was still upset about her friend leaving.

"If you just woke up the babies I'm going to hurt you." Zeke heard Sharpay say as she walked up behind him and placed her key in the door. As soon as the door open, Zeke could hear two screaming babies inside. Sharpay glared at him as she went straight for the screaming baby dressed in pink. He assumed that was Chad's little sister Olivia.

Without saying a word, he followed Sharpay to the kitchen where he saw his former basketball coach making out with Chad's mother. The visual was slightly disturbing.

"Chad why are your parents making out in the kitchen?" Sharpay asked stopping in her tracks.

"I think they just got engaged, but I don't think rings were involved. I'm not sure. I was sleeping peacefully until somebody woke up the babies." Chad said screaming over the children as he glared at Zeke.

"You can't exchange rings until you're last marriage is actually over." Sharpay said sarcastically as she rocked the screaming child to quietness.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that the doorbell was so loud. I brought food. I figured with everything going on you guys would be too tired to cook or do anything." He said holding out the two bags.

"I forgive you if you brought crème brûlée?" Sharpay said motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen.

"Of course. I also brought the chocolate chip cookies and brownies."

"You can put this stuff on the table as soon as they break apart. Kim is going to be pissed if they have sex on her kitchen table. Can't you do that in your own house? There are small children present." Sharpay said with a scream as the two adults pulled apart.

"You do remember what I saw at Pentagon Gardens?" Sharpay blushed at that. Zeke did not think such a thing was possible. Then again, he knew what happened at Pentagon Gardens.

"I caught Kim sending Troy dirty text messages when she was supposed to be teaching high school students last week. I think we would be even." Zeke's former teacher mumbled under his breath. It was slightly creepy to think of his former basketball coach having a girlfriend especially when said girlfriend used to make Zeke chocolate chip cookies with marshmallows when he was little.

"Thank you Zeke for being so thoughtful. Everything smells so good." Caroline said taking the bags from him.

"It's nothing much. I made some casseroles Mrs… Actually I don't know what your last name is anymore?

"Anything but Danforth. It is currently Sanchez. At least we will not have to do take out tonight. We were just figuring out what we were going to order.'

"Were you doing that before or after you were going to unzip his pants." Sharpay said heating up a baby bottle.

"This is coming from the girl who made a sex tape with my baby. I am an adult. I can do whatever I want. You on the other hand just graduated from high school. Do you really want to talk about certain incidents?

"Not really." Sharpay said grabbing the now warm bottle and testing it on her wrist. He followed her out to the porch without really thinking.

"So what's the real reason you're here? I seriously doubt you did it out of the goodness of your heart." She said skeptically.

"I really did want to help. It's part of my 'trying not to be a dick' efforts this semester."

"So you didn't do it just to score points with Amanda." Sharpay was good sometimes.

"Of course not. Amanda is not even here yet."

"You just gave yourself away. So how did you find out Amanda was supposed to come over later. "

"Marc told me in between make out sessions with my friend. You may want to disinfect every surface of your dorm room if Chad plans on sleeping there again anytime soon." Zeke said as he had a flashback to his Chicago roommate from hell.

"Okay that just sucks. Chad and I cannot even hold hands and Jason Cross gets to go down on Chad's roommate without any questions being asked. I knew that bitch was out to get us."

"If you do decide to go back to the dorms Marc now has pictures of her doing inappropriate things with her boyfriend. That is why she is now keeping her mouth shut."

"We haven't decided. Even if Tiffany wakes up, it may just be better for Chad and me to live off campus. For us to take an active role in the twins lives, it would make sense for us to have more space. Hey, you can always become Marc's new roommate because you will be closer to Amanda. It is obvious you're willing to do just about anything to get closer to her including make dinner for her friend who happens to be your ex girlfriend. The sex must be fantastic."

"I really don't remember. I was extremely wasted at the time. I just like being around her. She is different than anybody else I have ever met before. Sometimes she is an absolute bitch but other time she is the greatest person in the world. I love talking to her because she actually gets me. She listens to what I'm saying instead that judging me right on the spot."

"Why did't you tell me this last time?"

"I believe you were threatening to kill me at the time."

"Did you ever feel that way about me?"

"Honestly no. I think I loved you the way you loved Troy. I loved the idea of you, but I don't think I loved the real you. We were not in love with real people, just illusions. Maybe that is why I never ended things with Penelope. Because I was so stupid back then she's running away from me now."

"Zeke, do you blame her? I would be running away too."

"So convincing Marc to let me go in his place tomorrow when they deliver all of Nikki's these things would be a mistake?" Just then the little girl in Sharpay's hands started screaming again.

"Very big mistake and Isaac agrees with me."

"I thought that was Olivia. He is wearing pink."

"Your point is? Ryan wore pink all the time."

"Ryan dated Jason in high school."

"That's not a valid argument. If you're looking for something to do I can use a babysitter or possibly a distraction for Chad. He won't turn down a basketball game or your brownies." He wouldn't say no to being a distraction for Chad. The only friend Zeke still had in Albuquerque was Jason and he was in the new boyfriend zone. Although Marc will be on his way to Arizona tomorrow so he could probably bring Jason along.

"I thought Chad was over basketball?"

"He's over the pretentiousness of college basketball and the competition. Somebody needs to break in Kim's new basketball court.

"I'll think about it. But I have this strange feeling that I would probably end up severely injured in a basketball game with Chad."

"Probably. He has daddy issues and he can't punch Charles again."

"Fine I will come by tomorrow with more comfort food and a basketball." As soon as he said the words, he was wondering if going to Arizona with a slightly deranged Amanda would be the preferred alternative.

**Bonus question: At least one new person is now pregnant in this story. Guess who**?


	36. Things You Can Only Say in Emails: I

Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter. Unfortunately, no one reviewed.

It's getting harder to write these chapters due to a nasty case of writer's depression for this story. I actually wrote 2000 words on this chapter that I'm not using because I hated it so much. The same thing occurred on the last chapter. I decided to use my favorite storytelling technique of using e-mails on my second attempt at writing this chapter. That got me out of my writing depression long enough to rewrite this entire chapter in one morning. It's the shortest one in over a year, but I decided that Chad and Sharpay's conversation was too special to be thrown in with the other e-mails. Therefore, I decided to split the section in two separate chapters. The rest of the material will be covered in the next part. If the depression stays away, I hope to have another chapter up relatively soon. Reviews do help.

I didn't realize how many characters there are in this story until I had to make up e-mail names for everyone.

Warning: Sexual dialogue because Chad writes some very inappropriate e-mails in this chapter.

Chapter 36: Things You Can Only Say in E-mails: Part One

* * *

****

From:

Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **TB206100; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; CarolineSB; Baker _boy_2009; CastroPX; CXDanforth-Williams; Chad_luv_sharpay; The_fabulous_Marc; AmandaSX baby_brother_Evans; Daddy_Evans; EHSJasonMX; TaylorX; EHSKerriJA; Nurse_Jackson; Jimmy_the_basketball_King; Jackie_is_a_star and 79 others

**Subject: **Invitation: Welcome to the world Olivia and Isaac Jackson Open House February 14, 2009

**Time sent:** 1/31/2009 09:17:12

You are cordially invited to the baby event of the winter season on February 14, 2009 2:30 PM at Beijing Gardens hotel, Albuquerque.

Please help Sharpay Evans and Chad Danforth Welcome OliviaSharpay Jackson and Isaac Miguel Jackson in to the world.

The pair are registered at:

Baby Bryan Boutique

Baby Land Style

Toys-R-Everyone

The Toddler Connection

Bullseye-Mart

Even if you can't show up, I am expecting a gift.

[Click here to RSVP]

[Click here for directions]

[Click here to donate to the Twins college fund]

[Click here for adorable pictures of Chad trying to give his baby sister a baby sponge bath.]

[Click here for fabulous pictures of Chad being urinated on by his baby brother.]

[Click for funny images of Chad being thrown up on by both babies.]

* * *

**From: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 09:32:18

I thought we agreed to have a small open house here at Kim's house so we wouldn't have people coming over here at all hours to see the babies. We also agreed to have it on February 7. Why is this thing now at Beijing Gardens on the 14th? I thought we talked about this yesterday when you got tired of my aunt bringing strange family members over. You made it sound like we're having the party of the winter social season. I'm not wearing a suit.

Also, why did you solicit gifts? You have bought the twins everything they could possibly need.

In addition, did you have to send those particular images to all of our friends? Why couldn't you send the one of Isaac aiming at you?

I love you anyway, even if you are evil.

**PS: **What are you wearing?

* * *

**From:** Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To:** Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject:** Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 09:46:34

Those shots were adorable. You look so cute giving your sister a baby sponge bath. At least she is not as bad as Alex. I'm sure Kim has blackmail pictures somewhere of me trying to give Alex a bath when he was a few months old. He completely ruined my outfit.

This is doubling as a baby shower because Tiffany's was canceled due to what happened therefore we are entitled to gifts.

Kim is the one who changed the location to Beijing Gardens and the date. She thought you would want Troy here for this thing and he's going to be in Albuquerque for the Valentine's Day weekend. She believes that neither one of us is going to have enough energy to actually plan this thing or clean up her house.

The event planners at Beijing Gardens are going to take care of everything including the catering. All we have to do is show up and look fabulous. Yes, you are wearing a suit. You look sexy when you're dressed up.

Why are you e-mailing me, when you're only two doors away?

I know this is probably a prelude to e-mail sex, but I'm going to go with it since we haven't had the real thing in days. I hope you're more behaved than that. I'm wearing your old East High basketball shirt and my favorite pair of jeans that are a little too tight. I need to exercise more now that you're making me eat like a person.

Last night when I went on an emergency diaper run the skinny bitch behind me made some snide comment about me still needing to work off the 'baby fat.' She said I was fat.

You'll be happy to know I didn't go straight for the liquor cabinet to drown my sorrows. I did eat a chocolate bar though. I'm going to have to burn that off now.

* * *

**From:** Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 09:58:28

Good point about the party. I'm all in favor of anything that means less work for us. I miss sleep. Also, I would like Troy to be here for the twins coming out party.

I am emailing you via my iPhone because your namesake gets cranky when I don't give her my undivided attention. She is so like you. I hope she goes back to sleep after this bottle. On the bright side, we are talking to each other. We barely get to do anything non baby related right now.

You're not fat. You're just not anorexic looking anymore. You only weigh like 15 more pounds than you did in high school. You were a stick figure back then. (But you were a sexy stick figure that induced all sorts of wet dreams.)

You are the sexiest woman in the world no matter how much you weigh. I love your new curves and you're like half a cup size bigger now. I would like nothing more than to be stripping that old T shirt off of you as I start sucking on those wonderful breasts of yours. Then I would begin kissing every single inch of your exquisite body. I would worship you with my mouth until you came screaming my name. Do you know you taste like honey? Do you have any idea how badly I want to be inside you right now?

Do you think we can talk my mom in to babysitting tonight so we can have some private time? I miss private time, but I miss you more.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To:** Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject:** Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 10:03:54

That laughter you heard a few minutes ago was your mother. Did I mention Caroline is reading these emails over my shoulder? She said there's no way in hell she's going to baby sit just so you can get laid.

That's so unfair. I miss sex, but only with you.

* * *

**From:** Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 10:06:01

Oh god. Why didn't you tell me this was a bad time for e-mail sex?

* * *

**From:** Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject: **Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 10:12:45

As if I thought you were going to try to sex me up while feeding your baby sister or whatever you're doing when I'm trying to do homework. She didn't start reading until I started laughing.

By the way, Zeke, Jason C, and Jimmy are coming over to play basketball with you at noon so you'll stop sulking. I arranged it to keep Zeke from going with Amanda to Arizona and to make you smile again. Although, now she's going with Penelope because Marc backed out at the last minute supposedly due to a surprise paper because one of his professors had a mood swing yesterday.

Don't be embarrassed that your mom saw what you wrote. You should see some of the messages she sends to your future step dad when he is actually in class. I accidentally picked up his phone once and saw things that made me want to bleach my brain. I'm scarred for life. Now I know where you get your dirty text messaging and email tendencies from.

I am just happy you are talking to me. You've been so closed off the last couple of days I didn't want to stop you.

* * *

**From: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 10:20:41

One, Sharpay junior is asleep finally. Two, she can't read yet and therefore cannot be scarred for life unlike myself. Never ever tell me what were in those messages. Its bad enough I accidentally read some of the things that Troy sent to Kim.

Three, remember all those messages I sent you during basketball season. I was usually surrounded by teammates or Amanda when I sent you text messages about finger fucking you in the locker room. Honestly, I have no shame when it comes to you. I will always want you even though I'm currently exhausted from twin duty.

Four, I miss being with you, between school and the babies, I have been collapsing the moment I walk in to the house. Can't we just let everybody coming over to play basketball stay with the baby so we can have some private time?

Also, I'm not sulking.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject:** Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 10:27:45

Yes, you are sulking. You still haven't told me everything that happened last Sunday night. I'm your fiancé. You can tell me everything even if it may be something I don't want to hear. I love you and I will always be here for you.

Also the cringing/laughing sounds from a few minutes ago where your mother again. She's still reading these messages over my shoulder as she's feeding Isaac. She said she's willing to baby sit at some point in the future as long as she never finds out what we actually did. I'm coming over there to rescue your baby sister from your corruptive influence. She's like six days old and you are already scarring her for life.

* * *

****

From:

Chad_luv_sharpay

**To:** Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: Why is this thing now happening at a hotel and did you really have to use those images?

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 11:13:01

I know for a fact you're not reading this message right now because you're standing in front of me singing a lullaby to Olivia to get her to go back to sleep because she started screaming the moment you took her from me. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are right now?

You're right I have been sulking. I have also been keeping you at arm's length. I don't mean to push you away it's just a defense mechanism. I know sometimes I can be an ass but I still love you. So much is going on right now and it is just so hard to deal with.

Everything is so different than it was a year ago. I had everything planned out. Troy and I would be the stars basketball players at A of U. I would get a computer science degree because that would be the easiest and it would be a good backup in case my NBA dream fell apart. Taylor and I would have the perfect long distance relationship. I'm laughing at the thought of that right now. Taylor and I really should have broken up before College started.

I wasn't planning on Troy going to another school or me and you becoming the best of 'friends'. I really didn't plan on becoming Uncle Chad but I don't think Troy was planning on being a daddy either. That threw everybody for a loop. Then again so did the fact that my mom is dating his dad now.

I'm bored out of my mind in computer science. I only took all those classes in high school because that's one of the major industries around here, along with the military. I don't want to be a computer programmer anymore. Even the idea of designing video games is not as thrilling as it was a few years ago.

I'm not sure what I want to be. I like science and doing research on different things. Maybe I'm having a little too much fun researching human sexuality. It's actually interesting and not just because I enjoy discovering new ways to make you scream. You know I love learning new things. I wonder what I would have to major in to become the next Dr. Kinsey or Dr. Ruth?

I wasn't planning on becoming a big brother or functioning as a pseudo parent because my father put the mother of his children in a coma. I keep having nightmares about what happened that night. That's why I have been letting you sleep through the 2:00 AM feedings. I'm usually already up because I can't sleep.

Maybe if I tell you in this e-mail that I may or may not send you will be easier to deal with then telling you about that night verbally. They were arguing on top of the stairs. Tiffany was accusing him of only wanting to marry her because her bitch of a mom was paying him to. He began yelling back and started calling her a lot of nasty synonyms for prostitute. I'm surprise you didn't hear all this in the ladies room below. They were really loud.

At that point, Tiffany and I tried to walk away. Then Charles started yelling about my decision to 'throw my entire life away' because I don't want to play basketball anymore. I wanted to tell him that the NBA was his dream, not mine. But I said nothing because Tiffany was already screaming at him again about how he shouldn't be forcing his dream on me because he wasn't good enough to succeed. I knew this was turning bad quickly and I pulled Tiffany away even though I wanted to hit him again so badly. I knew better than to give him anything else to use against me.

He wouldn't let us walk away. He grabbed Tiffany by the wrist so hard that he left bruises. She tried to break free but she couldn't. Because of being pregnant her center of gravity is different. Instead of coming back to him when he yanked on her arm, she fell back and tumbled down the stairs.

I blame myself for not being fast enough to keep Tiffany from falling back. I keep replaying the moment repeatedly in my mind, thinking of all the things that I could have done differently. Maybe if I did punch him out, Tiffany would still be waiting for her due date and not in a coma.

What if she doesn't wake up? What if the twins become ours permanently? Are you ready to be a mom to two children that are not yours? Am I ready to be a dad? How can I be a real father with such a fucked up example like Charles? I'm so fucking scared. I'm afraid of being my father. I am absolutely terrified of being a father at all. I just don't know how to do this. I need you. You are the only thing keeping me from falling apart.

I love you so much it hurts sometimes.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject:** I love you and I will always be there.

**Time sent: **1/31/2009 13:24:01

I'm sitting here writing this as I am watching you smile for the first time in weeks as you are kicking Zeke and Jason C's ass on the basketball court in Kim's backyard. You look so sexy on the court wearing your old East High sweatshirt that I know you stole back from me.

I'm glad you're too distracted playing with your boys to see me crying right now. Don't worry their happy tears.

You never have to be afraid to tell me anything. Nothing you have to say will scare me away from you. I love you no matter what. I will be with you no matter what.

Even though we haven't said the vowels in front of the state of New Mexico and God yet, I have said them in my heart. I will be with you until death. I will stay by your side through sickness and health. I will be with you when you do stupid things even if I want to smack you upside the head. I will love you despite your crazy parents and the unintentional parenthood. I will stay by your side for richer or poorer, even if that means living in that horrible apartment again on macaroni and cheese. I will support you in whatever you want to do even if you want to become a research biologist that specializes in human sexuality. You could also do anthropology. I will e-mail you the course catalog and I already scheduled you a time with your adviser.

Sorry, I got off topic. Any way what I'm trying to tell you is it is me and you against the world. Because of that I know I can survive anything with you by my side even dirty diapers. Seriously, how can one creature that small create so much waste?

Now let me do my duty as your life partner by reassuring you. First, you are not Charles. I'm not worried about you ever hurting me emotionally or physically the way he hurt Caroline and Tiffany. I trust you with everything I am. I trust you with my heart and my entire self. I trust you with my hopes and dreams. I trust you with my fears. I will never trust anyone else the way I trust you.

If you were like Charles, you would not have pushed me away the first time I've tried to have sex with you when I was completely drunk that Gabby posted to the Internet. You also would not have pushed me away the other time I tried to have sex with you on are birthdays when I was completely drunk. You always went at my pace.

I know you'll never physically hurt me like what your father did to Tiffany. I know you will not cheat on me like your father did with your mother even though you kind of cheated on Taylor. You know it wasn't the same and Taylor has forgiven you. It doesn't count.

I know you will not hurt any of our children the way Darby hurt me even if due to tragic circumstances Olivia and Isaac become our children permanently. You are the greatest person I know. You have a good heart Chad Danforth.

I understand your fear. I'm afraid of becoming Darby. I don't want to become an image conscious bitch that cares about nothing but herself. I'm afraid of becoming an alcoholic like her. I'm afraid of getting mad and taking my anger out on you and the kids. You know for a fact that even now I still wake up in the middle the night due to Darby induced nightmares.

Even though Charles was an ass, you had a great father in Jack. He's always been your father. He loves you just like he loves Troy. Love is more important than blood. Remember that. He is the example that you should follow even though he isn't perfect. The thanksgiving incident comes to mind as an example of that imperfection.

Finally, what happened on the balcony Sunday night was not your fault. Don't let the guilt eat away at you. I used to blame myself for Darby hitting me. I thought if I was absolutely perfect maybe she would stop hurting me. That's why, starring in everything in high school was so important to me back then. Then I met the real you and through your love I realized none of it was my fault. I am not responsible for what other people do. It's not my fault that they hurt me the way they did.

Let me repay the favor. You are not responsible for your father's stupidity. Let go of the guilt and pain. If you need to physically cry on my shoulder, it's yours. You don't even have to ask.

I love you, scar tissue and all.

PS: Is it just me or is Jimmy having way too much fun trying to teach Marc how to play basketball? Jimmy is touching Marc the same way you touched me when you were teaching me how to play. I don't think that's normal. I think we should be very happy right now that Kerri is playing with her Cousins inside the house right as your Aunt Claudia floods the house with more relatives that don't like me.

**To:** Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **I love you Too

**Time sent:** 1/31/2009 17:23:49

I told you most of this before you passed out after our previous activities but I wanted to put something in writing before Aunt Claudia shows back up with the twins. We owe her a giant gift basket for taking the twins to see Tiffany for the afternoon so we could 'study' after the basketball game.

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for staying by my side through everything.

I feel the same way even though we haven't said our vows in front of God and the state of New Mexico. If I could marry you tomorrow I would, unfortunately my mom is making us wait.

In the interim, I will love you through good and bad until my very last breath. I will stay by your side even when you're being Sharpay the bitch, because I love her too. Even if we are stuck in a horrible apartment again eating your extra crunchy macaroni and cheese, I will still be there. I will be with you through sickness and health even if that means camping out at the hospital. I will stand by your side when we must deal with our completely insane relatives. All I want is you for the rest of my life. I pledge all of myself to you and no one else.

I will still love you when your hair turns gray and you actually do have baby fat. Just remember, I think curves are sexy.

PS: I think you are right about Marc and Jimmy. Jason C looked ready to kill even if he is still in closet case mode. Like Kerri needs something else to deal with right now. No matter what happens next, we will deal with it together. It will always be you and me against the world no matter what. I think we're facing the 'no matter what' right now. I'm okay with it because I have you.


	37. Things You Can Only Say in Emails: II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

Chapter 37: Things You Can Only Say in E-mails: Part two

**

* * *

**

From:

EHSKerriJA

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous; Chad_luv_sharpay; CarolineSB; Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**Subject: **Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent:** 2/1/2009 09:23:52

Sorry, I didn't read this until this morning. After watching my boyfriend be a little bit too close to his other 'friend' yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the hospital with Tiffany. Nothing has changed.

There are a few family members that you forgot to invite. Is it OK if I forward this invitation to a few other people? Don't worry there's no way in hell I am inviting Tiffany's 'mom' but I'm sure her biological mom's sister and brother would want to come.

Just so you know, Tiffany's 'mom' showed up to see her at the Hospital yesterday. Fortunately, it was 30 minutes after your Aunt Claudia left with the twins. Hospital security escorted her out before she could cause a scene.

* * *

**From: **Chad_luv_sharpay;

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**Subject: **Re: Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 09:43:35

Okay, even the girlfriend realizes that her boyfriend is too close to Marc. This may end badly.

I don't know if we should invite any of Tiffany's mom's relatives. What if they tell her about the party and she crashes with her legal team?

Should we be worried about Tiffany's mom showing up to the hospital again?

**

* * *

****From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay;

**Subject: **Re: Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent:** 2/1/2009 10:01:22

Actually, I don't think it's going to be that bad. Kerri didn't seem that upset.

I will send Kerri a message about not inviting anyone from Tiffany's mother's side of the family.

I'm already worried about Tiffany's mom or your father crashing the event. Just in case, I'm going to talk to the hotel about adding extra security.

Last night, my dad suggested we should get a bodyguard for us and the babies. He's really worried about your dad. He is even worried about Kim's mom doing something stupid again. We'll talk about this in person because Princess Junior just started crying.

**

* * *

****From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **EHSKerriJA

CC: Chad_luv_sharpay; CarolineSB; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; Daddy_Evans; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent:** 2/1/2009 11:01:02

Chad and I talked and we decided that we don't want to take the risk of inviting anyone from Tiffany's mom's side of the family. It could cause problems. The custody talks are going so badly that Chad and I are acquiescing to my dad's demand that we get a personal bodyguard.

We're not even inviting some of Chad's family to the thing for the same reason. Things are just too complicated right now.

**

* * *

****From: **EHSKerriJA

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay; Sharpay_is_Fabulous

CC: CarolineSB; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; Daddy_Evans; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 11:31:37

Like I would invite anybody from Marisol's family to the babies' party! I said biological mother. I was talking about Tiffany's birth mother. You did notice that Marisol seemed to be a little too light skin to actually be Tiffany's biological mom?

I don't know how much Tiffany told you about her childhood but it was pretty screwed up. Tiffany's biological mother was also named Olivia. She died when Tiffany was 11 months old in a car accident that killed two other people, thanks to some idiot drunk driver. It was horrible. I think Tiffany only survived because of her car seat. I also think this is the reason why Tiffany made plans in case something happened before the twins were even born. She knew firsthand how uncertain things can be.

This all happened before I was born but according to other family members, Uncle Isaac was absolutely devastated. I don't know because I never met him. He died in the first Iraq war before I was even born. Six months before being deployed, he married the bitch. From that point, the whole thing deteriorated into your classic Cinderella story but without the ugly stepsisters.

**

* * *

****From: **Chad_luv_sharpay;

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 11:51:29

Do any of our friends have perfectly normal loving parents?

**

* * *

****From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject: **Re: Additional people to invite to the baby shower/baby coming out party

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 12:21:19

I think just Taylor and Zeke. Possibly Nikki if you forget that her father tried to keep being sick from her. I called her this morning to say hi. She is in pretty good spirits despite everything. She is sending back a handmade baby blanket with Amanda.

**

* * *

****From: **CastroPX

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject: **Why the hell am I in Arizona?

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 12:59:04

Should I be happy that you actually invited me to this baby shower or did your fiancé just invite me to get more gifts? Why do your brother and sister need more gifts? Your girlfriend has a shopping problem. Those two are already spoiled and their barely a week old. I bet they are adorable in person. I'll come by as soon as I can.

Remind me again why I agreed to go to Arizona with Amanda? We had to stop four times for her to throw up. I hope whatever she has is not contagious. My schedule is too busy to get sick. I am trying to convince her to see a doctor on Monday but you know how stubborn she is.

Tell your girlfriend to call me. I know she has been busy with the babies, but Principle ass hole wants to see the script for the musical by the 10th.

**

* * *

**

**From: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **CastroPX

**BCC: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re:Why the hell am I in Arizona?

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 2:09:04

Yes, you are actually invited to the party. I put you on the list myself. We like you a lot better than my father and Tiffany's mother.

You went to Arizona to protect your friend from your ex boyfriend who completely fucked you over because he was afraid that we would all hate him for sleeping with the enemy literally. It's amazing how ridiculous the East High and West High rivalry seems after graduation.

I don't know if it's a bad thing but Zeke really does like Amanda. He definitely cares about her more than he ever did about Sharpay.

I don't know how to get Amanda to actually go to the doctor. I suggest asking Kim for assistance when she gets back from California. You are going to need the guilt trip powers of an actual mother to make any progress with her. She is way too stubborn.

I don't really understand why my girlfriend is soliciting presence from everyone either. It's Sharpay. It is not our place to question her motivations. She is crazy sometimes but I love her. Sharpay said that she will e-mail you, Kim, Jason, and my future stepfather a bunch of songs that she wrote during high school. She promises to do it as soon as the babies stop crying, whenever the hell that will be. They never stop crying.

**

* * *

**

From:

MontezGR

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **RSVP

**Time sent: **2/1/2009 23:42:34

I will be happy to attend this event. The twins are adorable.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **TB206100; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; CarolineSB; Chad_luv_sharpay; The_fabulous_Marc; AmandaSX baby_brother_Evans

**Subject:** Who the FUCK invited Gabriella?

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 7:02:14

I want an answer now. There's no way in hell I want that person at my party even if the happy pills are making her less of a condescending bitch. Why is she even going to be in Albuquerque that weekend?

Chad if you invited her to our party, I will never go down on you again.

**

* * *

**

**From: **CarolineSB

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous; TB206100; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; Chad_luv_sharpay; The_fabulous_Marc; AmandaSX baby_brother_Evans;

**Subject: **Do you really have to use expletives in the subject line?

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 8:12:38

I know you are upset about Gabriella being there but please don't send e-mails like that. Also, never mentioned having oral sex with my son in any e-mail you send me. The thought alone is making me nauseous. I may throw up now.

* * *

**From: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous; TB206100; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CarolineSB; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; The_fabulous_Marc; AmandaSX baby_brother_Evans;

**Subject:** It wasn't me

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 8:39:23

Come on, do you really think I'm going to invite her to anything? If I had my choice I would never see her again. I am still pissed at her about the almost sex tape thing, even if she was off her medication at the time. Unfortunately, she is still Troy's friend and is moving into his house in San Francisco along with Madison eventually.

I think Troy feels guilty for everything that happened and what his mom did. You know how Troy is.

Since I was a good boy, can I still have a BJ?

**

* * *

****From: ****CarolineSB**

**To: **Chad_luv_sharpay

CC: Sharpay_is_Fabulous

BBC: EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **RE: It wasn't me

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 9:02:13

Do you realize you use reply to all again? I just returned from throwing up. Why do you put your mother through this?

**

* * *

**

From:

Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; CarolineSB

CC: Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject:** Re: It wasn't me

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 09:13:14

After I walked in on you doing very inappropriate things to my former gym teacher you have no room to talk. I'm sending you my therapy bill.

**XXX**

**From: **TB206100

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous; Chad_luv_sharpay

**Subject: **Blame your best friend

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 11:22:32

Kim was the one who invited Gabriella to come with us to Albuquerque for Valentine's Day weekend. Kim doesn't want Gabriella to kill Mercedes if she tries something.

**

* * *

**

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**Subject: **What the fuck were you thinking?

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 12:59:01

Seriously not only did you invite you know who to my baby party, but you are letting her live in the same house as your future husband. Are you out of your fucking mind?

* * *

**From: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**Subject:** I'm not crazy.

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 18:59:01

Sharpay, things are a lot more complicated than that. I Trust Troy completely, I Trust Gabriella when she is on her pills. They didn't even have sex when they were actually dating, why would they now?

I also have to tell you the real reason why she posted that video to the Internet. You will think it's absolutely hilarious, maybe.

In an effort to try to steal Troy from Gabriella, Mercedes convinced Gabriella that Troy was sleeping with both you and Chad and he was using that particular video file for masturbation material. Because Gabriella, being absolutely paranoid because of the lack of medication she believed the manipulative bitch. She posted the video to get back at the two of you for fucking around with Troy behind her back.

**

* * *

****From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**Subject:** Re: I'm not crazy.

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 19:26:46

Even I want to go to San Francisco and kill Mercedes now. Because of that explanation and the ice cream you just gave me, I will not have security remove Gabriella if she shows up. Because you are letting us stay here until we move into the condo, I won't tell you I think you're completely nuts for letting Troy live with his ex girlfriend.

I can't believe my father is buying Chad and me a condo. I think this is his biggest 'I'm sorry I miss your childhood' present to date. Then again, he's hiring Chad's mom so that probably is a guilt present in itself.

**

* * *

**

**From: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**Subject: **Re: I'm not crazy.

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 20:16:46

Guilt is a wonderful motivator. I thought your future mother in law has not accepted the job formally yet. Jack hasn't said anything since I got back this afternoon.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**Subject: **Re: I'm not crazy.

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 20:16:46

Like there is any way she is going to say no. Even though he is keeping quiet, your father in law has been smiling for days. She enjoys spending time with her baby and her boyfriend too much to turn down the job. The biggest sign of all is she is planning to travel to DC in a few days to clean out her apartment.

**

* * *

****From: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: I'm not crazy.

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 20:16:46

That would be a yes then. I just assumed that was because of the regular sex.

Speaking of school related stuff we really have to start working on the play now. If you know who doesn't get the script next week, we are going to be stuck doing a Disney musical this year with all the good stuff edited out. I can't believe he still won't let us have a kissing scene.

**

* * *

**

From:

Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **baby_brother_Evans

**Subject: **You could call your sister every once in awhile

**Time sent: **2/2/2009 20:36:12

Considering I just inherited twins, I would think you would call me more often. You are probably too busy with your girlfriend to care about me. I guess I have to be the better sibling. How are you?

Let's cut the pleasantries. I need a favor. Because I'm so busy with the babies and school, I don't have time to do all the writing on this spring musical myself. I have some off the shelf stuff that I can give little Jason and company to work on but we need more songs. I'm so desperate I'm letting Penelope do a lot of the work. I am even desperate enough to accept the basketball song that Troy and Chad wrote together junior year. Surprisingly enough, it was actually usable although I like the junkyard song better but it does not work for this musical.

I know you did some songwriting in your spare time back in high school. Do you have anything good? Help your sister out.

* * *

**From: **baby_brother_Evans

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: You could call your sister every once in awhile

**Time sent: **2/3/2009 14:49:59

Sorry, I've been busy with classes not Taylor. Every time I call her, she makes some excuse not to talk. I have no idea what is going on with my girlfriend. Because dad is buying you a condo, he's getting me an apartment. Packing up the dorm room takes more time than it really should.

Even if I don't call you enough you know I love you and I can't wait to see the babies in person during spring break. They look so much like Chad. Is Tiffany improving?

Attached are few songs I wrote when you were trying to get Troy with expensive Italian shoes and college scholarships. I apologize if I was bitter at the time.

**

* * *

**

From:

Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **baby_brother_Evans

**Subject: **Re: You could call your sister every once in awhile

**Time sent: **2/3/2009 15:16:46

Please don't remind me of my temporary lapse of good judgment in high school. Thank you for the songs. Things haven't really changed with Tiffany. The entire coma thing is really hard on Kerri. The only good thing to come out of this, is Jackie and Kerri are starting to become friends again. Boyfriends don't really matter much when your cousin is in a coma.

As for Taylor, give her time. She will talk to you when she is ready. I think deep down inside me and her are a lot alike.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; EHSJasonMX; CastroPX;

**Subject: **Songs and possible scenes for the high school musical

**Time sent: **2/3/2009 15:16:46

Due to my sudden foray into motherhood, I'm not going to be able to do all the writing on the musical given the Principle's unrealistic deadline. The play is not even going to happen until April at the earliest. I'm turning over what I have so far to the four of you. Everything I have written for my class this semester is labeled as such. I also included some things I actually wrote during junior year. Ryan even sent me a few things earlier today. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to look through what he sent, so I have no idea how good it is. Let me know what you think.

**

* * *

****From: **EHSJasonMX;

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA; CastroPX; Jackie_is_a_star; Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**Subject: **Re: Songs and possible scenes for the high school musical

**Time sent: **2/4/2009 18:46:46

I can work with some of this. I like the new version of the cafeteria song better than the old version. However, I am not exactly sure our principle will be happy with openly gay characters in the musical or blatantly heterosexual characters for that matter. I think he is still trying to pretend that Jimmy does not exist. The principle hasn't done anything to the students that keep calling him the F word. That's just going to get Jimmy to take a scholarship from any number of the private schools in Albuquerque that want him on their basketball team faster.

I will write a second version of the song and some additional dialogue just in case.

The new basketball song is really good but I'm still worried about what our principle will say about the lyrics involving teen pregnancy or anything to do with sex at all. We might have to go back to the old version.

I also like I _Want it All_ but I have no idea how to work that song into the plot. Jackie has some ideas and she is going to be helping me.

I'm not touching your brother's song called 'I don't dance'. I am 13 and I know that song is about sex. Maybe your brother was hoping that because the duet takes place between two guys, the homoerotic subtext would go over everybody's head but I instantly knew what he was talking about. Baseball and dancing have been used as code words for sex in literature for a very long time. How am I supposed to take the line, 'Lean back, tuck it in, take a chance.' not inappropriately?

Contrary to what my principle believes, 13 year olds know about sex. One of my former junior high classmates is now a patient of my mother's. She is in her second trimester because she was 'curious' without a condom last summer. We shouldn't be sheltered from this stuff.

The only song I can use completely without writing a 'clean version' is _We're All in This Together_. It's just sugary enough that it should pass the principles prudish standards without the man going into cardiac arrest.

Jackie, Penelope, and I will work on everything this week and hopefully we will have a draft to you, Mr. Bolton, and Ms Bolton a day or two before it's due to the principle.

**

* * *

**

**From: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulou

**CC: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX

**Subject: **Next time read things before you forward them.

**Time sent: **2/4/2009 19:01:46

Next time you send things for Jason to work on please make sure the material is age appropriate. I know you are busy with the babies, but you could have sent the stuff to me to read through first.

The baseball song probably would have gotten past Dave but Jason is too smart not to pick up on the subtext. He knows what the term homoerotic means at 13.

Even I already know that we're going to have to write two versions of this play if we have any hope of getting it approved. Have you considered doing something else a bit more likely to get approved? Like a story from Alex's nursery rhyme book.

* * *

**From: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**To: **EHSJasonMX;

**BCC: **CarolineSB; AlexisMA,

**Subject: **I will not tolerate stupidity

**Time sent: **2/4/2009 19:06:38

Jason if you could please send me the names of the students harassing Jimmy, I will take care of it. Dave may tolerate homophobia, but I will not.

**

* * *

**

From:

EHSJasonMX;

**To: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: I will not tolerate stupidity

**Time sent: **2/4/2009 19:21:15

It may take awhile to give you all the names. The only member of the basketball team that hasn't called jimmy the F word is Nicholas cross. We lost the championship game because your assistant coach kept Jimmy on the bench the entire time because he was convinced that q*#$& can't play basketball. I recorded that particular incident on my cell phone. I attach the file. I'm half tempted to post it to YouTube but I don't want to put Kerri through that right now.

* * *

**From: **Sharpay_is_Fabulou

**To: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**CC: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: Next time read things before you forward them.

**Time sent: **2/4/2009 20:11:46

Sorry, I didn't think my brother would actually write a song about trying to seduce my current fiancée. Trust me I will talk to him about that later.

What is the point of writing two versions of the musical? Do we even have time for that? Also, considering the other subject matter in this play I don't think we should be worried about Jason M reading my brother's very coded gay love song.

**

* * *

**

**From: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulou

**CC: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: Next time read things before you forward them.

**Time sent: **2/4/2009 20:36:46

Good point. I don't know if Dave is going to approve any version of this play. He has already cut the budget of the drama department to the point that if Kim was not paying for the production I don't think there would be a musical this year.

**

* * *

**

From:

CastroPX

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; Sharpay_is_Fabulou; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Next time read things before you forward them.

**Time sent: **2/5/2009 7:26:59

I have a couple additional ideas for songs that I will send to everyone in a few days. I just need to flesh out some ideas.

I don't think the budget cuts are a retaliation thing, at least not completely. West high lost their entire drama department this year. A few of my drama friends are really upset about that. Is there any way students from West High can be in the musical?

* * *

**From: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; Sharpay_is_Fabulou; CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: Next time read things before you forward them.

**Time sent: **2/5/2009 12:15:59

Even though it should be acceptable under district guidelines, I don't think it will happen. The way David interprets the after school activity rules, I know he won't allow it. I personally have no trouble with it.

**

* * *

****From:** CastroPX;

**To: **Baker _boy_2009

**Subject: **You owe me

**Time sent: **2/7/2009 11:26:46

I'm working on the East High musical spectacular with Sharpay, Jack, Jackie, Jason and Kim. I need some help with one of the songs. In this story, one of the basketball players is in love with a cheerleader from the other school. I'm trying to understand why he was so afraid to let people know about how he really felt about her.

**

* * *

**

**From: **Baker _boy_2009

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: Sorry**

**Time sent: **2/7/2009 13:47:23

I don't think you're talking hypothetically. You could have just asked me directly without the excuse of the musical.

I was stupid. I was afraid of losing my friends. I was afraid of being different. I'm sorry that I hurt you by hooking up with Sharpay behind your back. I did care about you as something other than a means to get off.

* * *

**From: **CastroPX;

**To: **Baker _boy_2009

**Subject: **Re: Sorry

**Time sent: **2/7/2009 17:46:38

I really am working on the musical this year. It's for credit.

You're not just apologizing to me to get into my new roommate's pants again?

If you are, I need more cookies.

**

* * *

**

**From: **Baker _boy_2009

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: Sorry

**Time sent: **2/8/2009 9:32:27

No, I am apologizing for me. Although I do realize that what I did to you is probably the number one reason Amanda is wary of me. I admit that I was being a dick back then.

* * *

**From: **CastroPX

**To: **Baker _boy_2009

**Subject: **Re: Sorry

**Time sent: **2/8/2009 10:47:24

I think she has her own reasons for not trusting you beyond what you did to Sharpay and me. I met her family this weekend. Those people could give anybody trust issues.

It probably does not help that she has been throwing up every time you walk into the room for the last week. I know you actually like her but back off a little. This stress is not good for her.

**

* * *

**

From:

Baker _boy_2009

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: Sorry

**Time sent:** 2/8/2009 18:41: 12

I have been giving her space. My mere presence cannot be what is causing her to throw up all the time. Marc says she has been sick for a while. He actually referred to it earlier today as morning sickness. I hope he was joking.

* * *

**From: **CastroPX

**To: **Baker _boy_2009;

**Subject: **I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent: **2/8/2009 21: 14: 28

I don't know how to tell you this but I think it will be easier for me to say this in an e-mail. Amanda is late. You are the only person she has had sex with since college started. You do the math.

**

* * *

****From: **Baker_boy_2009

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: **Re:I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 6: 13: 28

Oh, fuck! Has she taken a pregnancy test? I'm sure we're both too drunk to actually remember to use a condom. Fuck Fuck Fuck

**

* * *

****From: **CastroPX

**To: **Baker_boy_2009

**Subject: **Re: I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 6: 33: 47

This is why you should not have sex when you're drunk. Even if you were sober enough to use a condom that may not have helped. Apparently, there are a lot of counterfeit condoms floating around. DLS just announced a recall of all their Tasty Pleasure Protection condoms yesterday.

I tried to talk her into taking the test this afternoon. She doesn't think it's possible because Kim made her take Plan B the next morning. That early morning trip to the pharmacy was how the entire Berkeley basketball scandal came out.

Isn't this a conversation we should have over the phone?

**

* * *

****From: **Baker_boy_2009

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent:** 2/9/2009 6: 38: 17

Like I want my mother to accidentally hear this conversation! E-mail is safer. My mom doesn't even know how to use a mouse properly. Even I know Plan B doesn't work if you're already pregnant and I am a guy. Maybe Kim can help?

**

* * *

**

**From: **CastroPX;

**To: **Baker_boy_2009;

**Subject: **Re: I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 6: 45: 21

Kim is too busy helping Sharpay with the babies. That's why Kim left Alex with Troy and Madison in San Francisco until Valentine's Day. I don't want to bother her. I also don't want to risk Sharpay finding out because she will cut off your balls and Chad will help her. I think I know someone else that can help me, but she is in DC at the moment.

If Amanda is pregnant, are you going to run away?

**

* * *

**

**From: **Baker_boy_2009

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: **Re: I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent:** 2/9/2009 6: 51: 21

I'm not my biological father. I don't even know the man because he ran away. I hope I would be more like the man who actually raised me.

**

* * *

****From: **CastroPX

**To: **Baker _boy_2009

**Subject: **Re:I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 6: 51: 21

I hope so too, if Amanda is pregnant. I'll let you know if the rabbit died.

**

* * *

****From: **Baker_boy_2009;

**To: **CastroPX;

**Subject: **Re:I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 6: 59:56

What does pregnancy have to do with rabbits?

**

* * *

**

**From: **CastroPX

**To: **Baker_boy_2009

**Subject: **I'm going to fucking kill you if you got her pregnant

**Time sent:** 2/9/2009 7: 04: 52

Look it up on google.

**

* * *

****From: **CastroPX

**To: **CarolineSB

**Subject: **Desperate college student seeking help with possibly pregnant friend

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 10:34: 52

This is Chad's friend Penelope. I was Sharpay's roommate up until recently. I am also your boyfriend's TA for Drama One this semester. I know we've only met a few times but Chad and Sharpay speak very highly of you. Jack actually talks about you all the time.

I hate to ask you this in an e-mail but I don't have your phone number and I don't want to ask Chad because he will ask too many questions. I also don't want to wait until I get to EHS to ask your boyfriend for it.

I have a friend who I think is pregnant but she won't take a pregnancy test. I don't know what to do to convince her to take the test. Can you help?

**

* * *

****From: **CarolineSB

**To: **CastroPX

**Subject: **Re:Desperate college student seeking help with possibly pregnant friend

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 11:24: 52

I've seen you at the house a couple of times recently. Jack also says you are doing great this semester. Is it really a friend that you think is pregnant or is it you? If you're scared there are a lot of resources out there. You don't have to be afraid.

**

* * *

**

**From: **CastroPX

**To: **CarolineSB

**Subject: **Re:Desperate college student seeking help with possibly pregnant friend

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 11:33: 52

God, I hope not. The last person I had sex with tried to rape me when I said 'not tonight' and that was several weeks ago. Because it is now public record, you know that he's the same person who raped Sharpay almost three years ago. I don't want to think about that possibility.

No, it really is a friend. I think Amanda is pregnant. About a month ago, Amanda and a guy who will remain nameless got drunk at a party and they had sex. Now Amanda is really late and throwing up all the time. Neither I nor the guy she had sex with can convince her to take a pregnancy test. I need the advice of someone who knows what she is going through and I'm too afraid to ask Kim. Help?

* * *

**From: **CarolineSB

**To: **CastroPX;

**Subject: **Re:Desperate college student seeking help with possibly pregnant friend

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 11:44: 52

Trust me, I understand. I get back to Albuquerque tomorrow. Did you suggest taking one with her? That is what my roommate did way back in 1990 to get me to take the test after I threw up on her shoes.

**

* * *

****From: **CastroPX

**To: **CarolineSB

**Subject: **Re:Desperate college student seeking help with possibly pregnant friend

**Time sent: **2/9/2009 12:05:22

That might work but I need backup. She is too deep in denial for me to do this alone. I think I better wait until you get here. I will ask Kim and maybe Sharpay if I can work up the courage to tell her what's going on.

**

* * *

****From: **EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous; Jackie_is_a_star; EHSJasonMX; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX

**Subject: **Bad news

**Time sent: **2/10/2009 16:16:46

Principal Dave has decided not to even look at the script that everyone has worked so hard on. He decided to cancel the musical all together and I don't think he is going to find a new drama teacher for next year either.

I think this is retaliation for reporting my now former assistant coach to the state high school athletics authority for deliberately not letting Jimmy play in the state championship because he is bisexual. I'm sorry. I'm already sending out my resume to other schools.

**

* * *

**

From:

EHSJasonMX

**To: **Sharpay_is_Fabulous; Jackie_is_a_star; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/10/2009 17:23:46

That's not fair. Great now no one is going to see what we have been working on. Moments like these, make me wish I went straight to college early and skipped high school altogether. Why can't I go to a school with a sane principle? Private school is looking better all the time.

**

* * *

**

From:

Sharpay_is_Fabulous;

**To: **EHSJasonMX; Jackie_is_a_star; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 18:02:38

Why am I not surprised? Just because the principle says no doesn't mean the show's completely dead. There has to be another way to get the production made.

* * *

**From: **Jackie_is_a_star

**To: **EHSJasonMX; Sharpay_is_Fabulous; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/10/2009 18:52:31

Because we need a stage and actors and our evil principle has just denied us access to those resources.

**

* * *

**

**From: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**To: **Jackie_is_a_star; EHSJasonMX; Sharpay_is_Fabulous; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 6: 18:23

I can buy a stage. I could rent out the community theater if I wanted to. I have the money. I was paying for the whole production anyway before.

* * *

**From: **CastroPX;

**To: **Jackie_is_a_star; EHSJasonMX; Sharpay_is_Fabulous; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 6:38:23

What if we put on the play without the school? I'm on my way to Kim's house anyway right now with Amanda. We should probably talk about this in person.

**

* * *

****From: **Jackie_is_a_star

**To: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton; EHSJasonMX; Sharpay_is_Fabulous; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 6:48:23

Can we do it at the university? They are sponsoring your internship at EHS.

**

* * *

**

From:

Sharpay_is_Fabulous

**To: **Jackie_is_a_star; EHSJasonMX; Mrs._Kim_Bolton; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 6:59:23

I can look into the possibility. I still know a lot of people on the board even though my dad resigned. They would probably do anything for an endowment from Kim.

* * *

**From: **Mrs._Kim_Bolton

**To: **Jackie_is_a_star; EHSJasonMX; Sharpay_is_Fabulous; CastroPX; EHS_Faculty_BoltonJA

**Subject: **Re: Bad news

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 7:03:23

Sometimes I think the university only wants me for my money. Penelope just got here, so we'll talk and get back to everyone else.

**

* * *

**

From:

CastroPX

**To: **Baker _boy_2009

**Subject: **The good news is your almost girlfriend didn't kill the rabbit.

**Time sent: **2/11/2009 13:03:23

The good news is Amanda is not pregnant. Apparently, she has stomach ulcers caused by a combination of bacteria and stress. The university's cafeteria food did not help. Unfortunately, during the mass pregnancy test exercise this morning, some of the others were not so lucky. Amanda didn't go to drama today so she could go to the university health center. I'm just glad it wasn't me. Chad's going to be mad as hell when he finds out and Kim probably has not stopped screaming yet. This is going to be ugly. Never buy flavored condoms from a lingerie store. I didn't say anything in drama class because I didn't want Chad to overhear.

**

* * *

****From: **Chad_luv_sharpay

**To: **TB206100

**Subject: **Urgent:One of us is completely fucked

**Time sent:** 2/11/2009 14:13:23

Why do you never pick up your phone when I need you? This is a best friend emergency. I just found a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom at your Albuquerque house. That could only mean that Kim or Sharpay is pregnant. This is bad. Call me now.

**To be continued.**


	38. The good news?

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I can't believe I've been working on this story for almost two years. It's been so long that thanks to the new movie this story is now completely AU. I will definitely try to get this done before we hit three years. That's why I'm releasing a short chapter now because otherwise it'll be another month before I get anything up. I have been unwell for a while and that is causing me to slow down.

* * *

**Chapter 38: The good news? Part one**

What exactly do you do when you are waiting for life as you know it to end? Chad was pretty sure homework was not an option. He realized that after working on the same physics problem for 30 minutes that afternoon. Cleaning after the babies just made him more anxious along with packing for the condo. With the probability of Tiffany waking up now only 20% the thought of having to take care of three kids before he finished college made Chad want to faint. Taking a nap was not an option either because every time he closed his eyes he dreamt of diaper duty with all three babies.

Finishing his applications for different schools for next year didn't seem logical either. Things were... complicated at the moment even without another baby on the way.

Talking to Troy was not an option either because his friend wasn't picking up the damn phone or answering his e-mails apparently. He actually called Gabriella he was so desperate. She promptly told him to calm down and that she would have Troy call back later after he spoke with Kim.

To prevent a complete nervous breakdown he tried to remember there was also a chance that the pregnancy test in question was Kim's. An extremely nervous Kim did throw up in physics class before leaving this morning. Unfortunately, Kim threw up on his shoes. That was not a good sign. He also remembered that she was upset yesterday because her favorite pants no longer fit. He could just picture her running home after class to take the test.

Chad hoped that was what happened even if he felt guilty about it. What type of friend secretly wishes that his best friend was the one who got totally fucked again? Of course, he justified it with the fact that Troy already had a toddler. How much worse can it be the second time around?

The pregnancy test was the cherry on top of this miserable day. Chad was already having a bad day by the time he received a text message from his girlfriend that said she was not coming to class today because she needed to take the twins to see their doctor. He was worried but she assured him it was a routine checkup that was rescheduled at the last minute. Only in hindsight does Chad realize that was an excuse.

He didn't think about it because of what happened at the hospital later. That misery started out with having to call security to drag his father out of the hospital. Apparently, the man did not understand the meaning of the word restraining order and tried to see Tiffany. After that, Tiffany's doctor pulled him aside and told him that if there wasn't any improvement by the end of the week it would be in their best interest to move her to a long turn care treatment facility. The Specialists that Sharpay's dad flew out to New Mexico from New York only gave her a 20% chance of waking up at all.

Finding the pregnancy test in the trash was just the icing on top of the cake of this completely fucked up day. The whole thing made him want to throw up. Then again that was probably the sympathy morning sickness.

The moment he heard Sharpay's car outside, he ran out the door. It was already passed 6:00 PM and he was worried about her as well as anxious. He saw his mom get out of the car as well with a tense expression that made Chad nauseous. He tried to tell himself that if Sharpay was really pregnant there would be more yelling and possibly crying. Chad just wasn't sure who would be crying. At this point, it would most likely be him. However, there was none of that. She almost seemed shell-shocked and so was Sharpay.

"Are you going to stand there and stare all day or are you going to help me?" Sharpay called from the driveway and Chad slowly walked down the front steps of the porch still slightly dazed to meet her.

"Can you grab baby Pay?" Sharpay asked him as she held baby Isaac in her arms while grabbing what appeared to be dinner out of the backseat. The bags indicated it was take away from his favorite restaurant. That was not a good sign. Sharpay only did that when she was trying to soften the blow or to get him to do something that he didn't want to do. The last time she brought food from his favorite restaurant he had to spend quality time with Sharpay's father. Not fun.

"Sure." Chad said picking up his little sister from the car seat. She was asleep which made Chad happy but then again newborns slept a lot, especially premature newborns. "How did the twins' appointment go?" Chad asked wondering if he should have waited until they were safely in the house and away from his mother. Did Sharpay even take the babies to see the doctor?

"We can talk about that when we are not dealing with newborns. If we can get them inside still asleep we might be able to get through dinner." Sharpay said with a sigh. He couldn't blame her. They were both getting really good at eating and feeding the babies simultaneously.

"You better get inside. I will call you later Sharpay and I will let you know how things go. Bye baby." His mom said kissing him on the cheek in the most embarrassing way possible. If Sharpay was pregnant, it was probably a good sign that his mother kissed him in public. That meant she didn't hate him. Of course, it would be a while before Chad realized how distant his mom was in that moment.

The next few minutes were a mix of uneasy silence and panic as the babies were placed in their bassinets to finish their nap, they pulled out plates, and dished out the food. Sharpay didn't say a word for the first 5 minutes before Chad had enough of that silence.

"Are you pregnant?" Chad blurted out causing Sharpay to choke on a piece of shrimp.

"Are you okay?" Chad asked as he ran to her side as she continued coughing.

"I'm fine. If you quote a certain line from Star Trek, I will kill you." Sharpay said with a glare that could freeze water outside in the New Mexico summer once she returned to normal.

"Okay, no pop culture references. When I came home this afternoon, I found a pregnancy test in the bathroom. Is it yours?" Chad asked in full panic by this point.

"Fuck!" Sharpay exclaimed becoming completely pale. "I thought I would have a few days before you would find out. I thought Kim got rid of the entire test this morning." Sharpay said confirming his greatest fear without actually saying yes.

"Oh god, you are pregnant." He was physically shaking at this point. "How could this happen? You are on the pill and we use condoms. I don't even let you give me a hand job without using a condom." Chad said as he started hyperventilating.

"Breathe, Chad! Just calm down." Sharpay said holding onto him.

"How can I calm down when I'm going to become a dad at 18?" Chad mumbled out between shaky breaths. The room felt like it was spinning.

"You're already a dad at 18. Tiffany is not going to wake up. We already have two kids and we're okay." Sharpay said speaking a truth that Chad was not ready to handle yet. That just made him sicker.

"There is still a 20% chance that she will wake up eventually." Even in his own mind, the words seem hollow. It's like he was lying to himself.

"Yesterday it was 24%, the day before it was 35%. She's not waking up and even if she does she may not even remember her own name let alone be able to take care of those two babies sleeping in the living room. We have no idea how much damage was done to her brain, neither do her doctors. Stop panicking Chad because, there's no point. We are not your parents. This is not your childhood all over again. We can get through this." Sharpay said in reassurance"

"I know that." Chad said almost screaming as tears were starting to fall down his cheeks. I know it's just me and you. How can we handle three babies? We can barely handle two. If my classes weren't so easy, my grades would be going in the toilet." Sharpay snorted at that.

"For you that would be a B plus. I would be happy with those grades." Sharpay said with a laugh.

"Not funny Pay." He said in all seriousness.

"Stop panicking Chad. We only have to worry about the babies we have. I'm not pregnant and there's probably a really good chance that it will never happen apparently. Let's just worry about the children already here." Sharpay said with a touch of sadness that Chad did not expect.

"You're not pregnant?" He asked hesitantly.

"No." Sharpay said with tears running down her cheeks.

"Those are not happy tears?" Chad asked in confusion.

"It's complicated." Sharpay responded as they moved into the living room.

"Explain it to me?" He asked as they sat down on the couch together

"I'm not pregnant but some of our other friends were not as fortunate." He was just about to ask if it was Kim before Sharpay interrupted him.

"I'm not going to tell you who until I get done with this story." Sharpay said in a quiet voice as not to wake up the babies.

"Fine, continue." Chad said as Sharpay began to tell him the whole story about Amanda being late and afraid to take a pregnancy test so they all took one with her. Her test came out negative but others were not so lucky. Fortunately, for him Sharpay was one of the lucky ones supposedly.

"Remember those flavored condoms I picked up from DLS?" Sharpay asked.

"The ones that you said were very tasty." Chad said with a wicked smirk. He was starting to return to his normal self now that he knew Sharpay wasn't pregnant.

"From now on, we stick with Trojan. In addition to being tasty, they were also defected or rather counterfeit. Remember that story on the news yesterday about the recall. The company is recalling over 60,000 packs, but the damage is already done." Sharpay said in irritation

"Thank god you're on the pill. This is why I believe in redundancy." Chad said happily. Then he noticed as Sharpay was frowning.

"Remember I was on medication that counteracted the pill when we were in DC." Sharpay said bursting his bubble.

"So we were lucky."

"That's what I said. Alexis doesn't think so." Sharpay added.

"What happened this afternoon?" he asked her grabbing her hand.

"After two tests turned up positive this morning we made appointments to see Taylor's mom this afternoon. That's why I didn't come back to campus after my time at EHS this morning. I was there mostly for emotional support. Being extra paranoid, she gave me another pregnancy test that also turned up negative." Again, Sharpay was crying.

"That is a good thing, right?" Chad asked hesitantly.

"It's a good thing right now. After finding out about my sexual history and discovering that I really didn't stick around long enough to get completely checked out after the 'incident' she decide it was time I had a real examination. Apparently there are some issues but we need to do more test." Because he was a guy, he decided not to ask what those issues were. He was smart enough to know that it involved his girlfriend's ability to get pregnant.

"Didn't you go through a thorough examination when you went on the pill? He asked after thinking for a moment. "You probably don't have anything to worry about. If there was a problem they would have caught it then." He was trying to be reassuring at that point.

"How long were we really together before I allowed you to put a finger up there let alone something bigger?" Sharpay asked him with a pointed look.

"A While, if you don't count you being completely drunk." Chad told her with a laugh.

"I love you and I was terrified. Do you really think I'm going to be comfortable with a complete stranger putting a speculum up there? I consider Alexis a friend, but your mom still had to hold my hand through the entire examination. I despise the gynecologist." Sharpay said as she essentially told him that she wasn't checked out before.

"I will be there to do it next time. Why didn't you see a doctor before?" Chad asked Sharpay slightly confused.

"If you have enough money, certain doctors do not ask questions. Why do you think Darby is dazed and confused all the time? Her private doctor is a drug dealer that went to medical school."

"So she was the one…" Chad started to ask but could not finish. Darby related questions also made him nauseous.

"No, that would require her actually caring about me. We both know she never did. Daddy had his assistant drop the pills off after he found out about what happened to Kim. Ryan got a condom bouquet." That would explain a lot Chad thought to himself.

"I'm guessing Kim is the one that is pregnant again." He asked quickly.

"Yes and she is not happy. Apparently, her birth control was not as effective because her hormones are kind of crazy naturally. Her last gynecologist forgot to tell her that she cannot use birth control pills as an actual contraceptive. They were done in by the counterfeit condoms." If it happened to anybody else, Chad would be laughing. Actually, he was still laughing on the inside anyway.

"Too bad the doctor forgot to mention that two kids ago. Troy is going to be in so much trouble. That explains why my mom was so skittish this afternoon. She's probably the one who has been designated to break the bad news to Jack. He is going to kill Troy. This is not good. He is supposed to meet with Lucy Friday to work out the kinks in the divorce with a truckload of lawyers and the judge. That will make the whole thing even worse." Just as Chad said this he looked up to see his girlfriend not looking at him as she played with the hem of her top.

"Actually, I think he's going to be more concerned with other things than to be mad at Troy. If he does get angry, it will be extremely hypocritical." Sharpay mumbled that last part to herself.

"What are you talking about?" He asked in confusion.

"I need to tell you something and you're not going to take it very well."

"You already told me that you're not pregnant. Nothing can possibly be worse than that unless my mom is pregnant." That's when Sharpay looked away from him. Then Chad remembered she said that a second test was positive. He also remembered that his mom came out of DLS with the same package Sharpay did weeks ago in DC.

"Oh fuck!" Was the only thing Chad said as everything went black.


	39. The good news? II

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

I have a very legitimate reason for taking so long to get this chapter up. On 6/24, I was hit by a car walking to work because the driver ran a light. I needed some time to recuperate. Also, it's hard to write with voice recognition software when you have your mother staying with you to take care of you, especially when you are writing things you don't want your mother to read.

I want to try to finish this story by the end of the year. To do that I'm going to have to change my writing style a little bit and my original end for the story. Things are going to speed up over the next few chapters after this current arc. I'm also planning once I've recovered to focus on this story for a couple of months. Therefore, if anybody is interested in being my beta for this story exclusively, let me know. Teddy Bear, who normally works on some of my Star Trek stories, has been helping but it may be easier if I had someone just for this story.

**Chapter 39: The good news? Part Two**

'How the hell could this happen again?' Kim thought as she locked herself in one of the study rooms on campus. She couldn't face everyone yet, so hiding in the library seemed like a logical solution. Besides, she had a ton of makeup work to do.

Her father was going to kill her. Jack was going to kill her. She wasn't sure how Troy was going to react, but it probably wasn't going to be good. She pictured lots of crying and screaming. A thousand horrible things were already running through her mind mostly involving her taking care of two children under the age of three entirely by herself. At least she wasn't dead broke this time.

Caroline told her that everything was going to be okay, but Kim didn't believe her. She wondered if Caroline was just telling her that because they were both in the exact same situation. Kim was too upset about being pregnant again to be mad about the fact Alex was going to have another aunt or uncle that was technically younger than him. The joys of the modern family. (Unlike the situation with her father and Vanessa, this was completely unplanned. She can't be mad at someone who did the exact same thing she did and got caught the exact same way.)

She was trying to put these thoughts out of her mind as she tried to do her physics homework. Unfortunately, it was giving her a headache but she was too afraid to call Chad for help. He probably knew by now. She wasn't sure if he would be on her side this time around. After another 30 minutes of trying to figure out the material in vain, she broke down and turned on her cell phone realizing that she needed help and had to call Chad. Unfortunately, she had 13 voice mails and 28 text messages, most were from Sharpay and Penelope, which she probably needed to return as soon as possible. There were also a few from Jack and Gabriella. Fortunately, there was nothing from Troy. She hopes that's a good thing.

None of the messages from Jack contains derogatory expressions aimed at her. She takes it as an obvious sign that he doesn't know about the new grandkid. Although, he did say some choice things about his boss, including suggesting that she do her student teaching at Xavier. She has this odd feeling that Jack will be teaching their next semester unless he finally takes her up on her offer to get his doctorate in education.

Jack was unsuccessful in trying to talk the man into reconsidering his decision to cancel the school musical, dismantle the drama department for the 2009-2010 school year, and giving the money to sports. If she wasn't so freaked out by the current baby situation; she would let a certain former drama teacher of hers know that her sworn enemy just actively tried to save the drama department. Maybe hell did freeze over and her father will take getting grandchild number two well. Kim doubted that.

The number of messages does not surprise Kim. She essentially disappeared the moment told her she was pregnant only cutting through the nearby AMC to tell Tiffany everything. Comma patients make great listeners. She was feeling better until she found out Tiffany's doctors were making plans to transfer her to a long-term treatment facility. The doctors said a few things that they shouldn't have said and now she knows that they believe that Tiffany may never wake up. Maybe that is the other reason Kim decided to spend the afternoon hiding at the library. She could not deal with her life right now.

Because she would be returning to the house as soon as possible for homework help, she decided not to call Sharpay or her future mother in law back. She wasn't ready to deal with the questions and she wanted to hold off the inevitable until she got home. It was probably best to put off dealing with a hysterical Chad until she could preoccupy him with physics problems.

She sent a quick message to Penelope letting her know that she was okay, or as okay as you can be after accidentally getting pregnant due to ineffective birth control. Not that Kim expressed it that way but it was pretty close. According to her message, Penelope already had a few informal conversations with A of U faculty about possibly doing the musical in one of the theaters on campus. It wasn't completely unheard of for outside interests to rent buildings on campus. Kim told Penelope that they would talk about figuring out another way to put on a high school musical this year, without using an actual high school, when she wasn't freaking out about being pregnant.

How could Kim not see this pregnancy coming? No one was more shocked than her when she saw a positive pregnancy test in her hand. She took three more tests before she started to accept the possibility that she was pregnant. That was before the trip to the doctor's office.

Kim should have known something was up when her period was late, but didn't think about it because it finally came even if it was a little light. She had other things to worry about like her fiancé almost ending up dead. She blamed it on the stress. It was not as if she was having a sudden craving for New Mexico fried chicken and chocolate sauce or any other crazy symptom. She forgot about having a false period last time. Come to think of it, Kim blamed her irregular menstruation on stress last time. Oh the stupidity.

According to the doctor, Kim was over two months pregnant and had no idea. It wasn't like she was throwing up all the time. That didn't happen until this morning, after the rabbit died metaphorically speaking the only person in the history of the universe real or fictional who was less aware of her pregnancy was Peggy from Mad Men and at least she had the excuse of not going through this before and existing before Google.

The only other sign that she was pregnant was the fact her jeans were getting tight. Kim blamed that on Caroline's home cooking and not having a toddler to chase after the last couple of weeks. She also blamed it on all the take out she consumed when taking care of Troy and all the cramming she did to make up for missing classes.

Apparently, unlike Caroline who was done in by counterfeit condoms, she probably got pregnant during her birthday when she and Troy had sex in the bathtub sans condom. She was never going to hear the end of it from various friends. Kim was letting everyone think that she got screwed over by the double whammy of an effective birth control pills and counterfeit condoms. People were more sympathetic that way.

Only Alexis knew the truth, but she was still worried enough to try calling Taylor in between appointments, in case she was another victim of the counterfeit condoms. Taylor didn't pick up. Taylor hasn't been answering a lot of phone calls recently, so who knows what's going on. Taylor hasn't been taking Kim's calls either not since whatever happened in DC.

Kim personally wants to kill a certain former doctor of hers for forgetting to mention that if you get put on the pill because you have an irregular period, it may be a really good idea to always use another contraceptive. She would sue but she didn't want Alex or the new baby to think they were unwanted. For now, Kim will just let everybody think that she got pregnant the same way Caroline did. It would be a long time before she told anybody besides Troy what really happened.

For the reasons mentioned above, she was not calling back her father-in-law. One, even if they needed to talk about legitimate school things, or the fact that the lawyers decided to push back the divorce mediation another two weeks he probably knew she was pregnant. Kim was avoiding that conversation for as long as she could. Due to certain circumstances, he probably can't be that upset but she has learned a long time ago that all parents are unbelievably hypocritical. 'Do as I say, not as I do.' Then there was the fact he was probably panicking about Caroline anyway. It would be best to wait until tomorrow in class where there would be witnesses.

That left Gabriella and with a message like 'call me now otherwise, I'm going to wake up your future husband with a blow job in the morning' Kim just had to respond. The infamous 'trench coat and stilettos' incident from last fall was still fresh in Kim's mind.

"Thank god you finally called." Gabriella said with mix of worry and relief.

"I had no choice after a message like that." Kim said in fake seriousness, mostly.

"I was joking. I would never do that to you. I almost considered you a friend now. I just needed you to call me back. I guess my plan worked." Kim could tell she was being sincere. She is also 99.9% sure that Gabriella knew about the new baby. If she knew, that meant that Troy knew.

"You do remember the trench coat and stilettos thing?" Kim joked to deflect the tension.

"One, I did not know about you and Troy at the time. Two, I was off my meds. Finally, I was under the influence of Mercedes. I cannot be held responsible for anything I did under those circumstances." She responded defensively.

"I know and I trust you as long as you're medicated. I would not have left Alex with you if I did not trust you. Is everything okay?" Kim asked wondering what else could go wrong today.

"Nothing is wrong with Alex or Troy." Gabriella said hastily back, automatically telling Kim that something wasn't quite right.

"But something's wrong?" Kim asked.

"Kind of, I'm just not sure how to tell you." Gabriella said hesitantly.

"It's not that hard. Just saying, 'I know that you are pregnant again'." Kim said with irritation.

"Lucy called. Wait, you are pregnant again?" Gabriella said it in what was obvious fake shock.

"You're a good singer, but I think you needed to pay more attention during acting class. I can obviously tell your faking." Kim spat out. "You know and therefore Troy knows. Wait why did mother evil call?" Kim asked finally comprehending what Gabriella said.

"Wonderful subject change." Gabriella replied sardonically.

"The crazy one calling is more important than seeing a plus sign on a little stick a plastic." Kim replied sarcastically.

"I don't know, only one of those things this life altering. I would be panicking right now if it was me." Gabriella said with a laugh that was obviously forced.

"Why do you think you could not get a hold of me for the last 6 hours? Although, its not as bad the second time around. I've been hiding in the library with my phone off. Troy's hiding in the bathroom. He hates me right now, probably." Kim said in near panic picturing all the worst scenarios in her head.

"Calm down. I'm sure panicking is not good for the baby even this early. How early?"

"11 weeks." Kim answered honestly.

"Troy doesn't know. I erased the message before he could hear it." She said in reassurance.

"Why did you erase the message? What are you doing in his voicemail?" She asked, with concern remembering what happened last time there was an invasion of privacy.

"Maybe I better start with the Lucy thing, it's all connected. This is complicated." Gabriella said with a sigh.

"Probably, Lucy makes every situation more complicated." Kim said, before Gabriella recounted a very interesting conversation with the woman who still will unfortunately become her mother in law. Somehow, Lucy found out that Gabriella moved in with Troy. In her diluted mind, she took that as a sign that the couple were back together. In reality, Troy needed someone to help take care of him even if he was back in classes. Gabriella and Madison volunteered. At some point, Lucy said something stupid about Kim and Gabriella responded with telling her to go fuck herself before hanging up.

"Does that woman understand the concept of a restraining order?" Kim mumbled to herself as Gabriella finished recounting her conversation.

"Not really. Somehow, in her head she sees me as a means to save her son from the evil one. Even though I knocked her unconscious according to what everyone has told me, she still thinks I'm on her side. She doesn't get that I despise her for manipulating the last two years of my life. Even my very first encounter with Troy was a complete setup."

"Yet there was still a connection there." Kim said begrudgingly.

"The grounds for a great friendship, not a romance, I can see that now that I have something else to compare it to. The only reason why we started dating was everyone expected us to. It's different with you and Troy because it's real. He's not going to freak out when he finds out your pregnant, at least not if hears it from you. I only deleted the message so you could tell him yourself instead of him finding out from a panic phone call from Chad about finding a positive pregnancy test in the trash can."

"Fuck!" Kim explained. "I thought we had hidden all the tests. Again, why are you listening to my boyfriend's voice mail?" Kim half yelled as the thought entered her mind.

"You know the doctor said, that Troy needs to keep his stress level down, which is why I've been dealing with Alex's more colorful antics. I don't mind, he's adorable. Anyway, after I abruptly ended the call, Lucy called Troy. I know this because your fiancé left his cell phone in the living room again. I knew it was her from the ring tone. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the phone in time because it was sandwiched between the couch cushions."

"Because we both know, Troy doesn't set a password for his voicemail, you listen to the message?" Kim asked.

"Actually, I made a copy before I deleted it for the lawyers. He didn't need to hear that. She essentially said exactly what she said to me, except there were more insults about Caroline and Lucy said some things about her own son and grandchild that were disturbing. Somehow, she knows about Caroline stocking up on pregnancy tests." There was only one way that Lucy could know about that, she was either stocking Caroline or paying someone to do it. Kim didn't say anything as she allowed Gabriella to continue. "Lucy thinks Caroline is the one that's pregnant and that's why Jack wants a quickie divorce. It never occurred to her that Caroline was picking up the test for you. I figured that out after I listened to Chad's psychotic voice mail about positive pregnancy test. I think Lucy is losing it."

"Probably, that's why she's postponing the divorce settlement talks. She's going to probably use the situation with Caroline to get more money. I'm sure she has a detective trailing Caroline. This is going to be an absolute mess. And I thought my parents' divorce was nasty." Kim mumbled the last part to herself.

"How will **you **being pregnant effect Jack's divorce?" Gabriella asked in confusion.

"I'm sure it will anyway. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one with a positive test." Kim said reflectively.

"Oh my god, I am so glad I deleted those messages." Gabriella said, just as Kim heard Troy screaming about his missing cell phone in the background.

"Just promise me you won't say anything to Troy." Kim said knowing that the conversation would be ending soon.

"It's not my secret to tell." Gabriella said quickly before turning her attention to Troy. Have you considered a carrying case for that thing? They make them in wonderful colors like black. You left it in the couch again." Gabriella said quickly. "I'll take Alex."

"He won't use it." Kim mumbled to herself because obviously Gabriella was too busy with Troy to hear.

"Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?" Kim heard Gabriella asked Troy.

"I'm fine." Troy answered back. Apparently, she was now on speakerphone because she could hear Troy perfectly. "Chad just sent me a slightly crazy e-mail and I need to check in with him." Great apparently Chad decided to use multiple means of conveying his panic.

"I think you better talk to your wife first. She's the person I'm talking to right now." Kim is 90% sure Gabriella handed her phone over to Troy.

"We're not married yet." Troy called back.

"You will be very soon. I am sure of that. Alex and I are going to go get a pizza and give you two, time to talk." This was obviously an excuse to avoid the fireworks.

"No tomato sauce." Both she and Troy cried out at the same time.

"You two are perfect for each other. I'm taking your car and your cell phone." She heard Gabriella say as her voice became faint.

"I'm pretty sure I know what Chad said in his e-mail if you're letting Gabriella leave with your car and cell phone." Kim said quickly.

"The car seat is in my car and I'm currently using her phone. I am not letting her leave here without a phone with our child. I'm pretty sure I do not want Alex here for this conversation anyway. Just tell me if I need to come to New Mexico to identify the body after Mr. Evans kills Chad." Troy said half joking.

"Mr. Evans has nothing to worry about unless Taylor got caught due to counterfeit condoms. You need to be worried about my dad. It turns out sex in the tub without condoms, was not exactly the best idea. Congratulations, you got me pregnant for my birthday." She said that last part snidely.

"Old thank god it's you." OK Kim was not expecting that. Screaming and crying, yes, but Troy sounded like he was actually okay with this.

"You're happy about this?" She asked in shock.

"I know the timing is bad…" Troy started.

"Unbelievably bad, not only are we both still in college but we are living in different states. Also, your mom will probably use this again your father in the divorce proceedings among the other things." Kim added quickly.

"However, this is a good thing. At least this way Alex won't be an only child. You know how much I hated being an only child. My dad is going to kill me, though."

"That would be a little hypocritical of him. Alex is not the only one losing his only child status, Caroline's pregnant." At that moment, the call abruptly ended with the telltale sound of a phone being thrown up against the wall. It looks like she owed Gabriella a new cell phone.

To be continued


	40. The good news? III

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter.

I did keep my promise to get this chapter up sooner. In comparison to last time, it wasn't that hard. The next few chapters will set up events for the grand finale. Reviews will help get the pace back up again. I'm actually working on the next chapter right now.

* * *

**The Good News? Part Three**

"You're Pregnant." Even though she was barely 35 years old, Caroline never thought she would hear those words again, even if her boyfriend probably would not be that surprised. During her farce of a marriage to Charles, she did everything in her power to make sure she did not bring another child into that bitter situation, short of getting sterilized. Abstinence worked best mostly because Charles was fucking random barely legal high school students (not that she knew it at the time). No wonder he thought she was fucking Jack for most of their marriage.

Only now does she realize how many emotional scars Chad carried from the constant bickering and fighting. As much as she wanted another child, if only to take away some of Chad's loneliness, she couldn't bring another innocent being into the hell that was her marriage to Charles. Children should be created out of love, not defective birth control.

Now that she was with someone she actually loves, having another kid seemed impractical. She and Jack had discussed the matter last night or rather he gave several reasons why a baby would be a bad idea and she agreed. The most important of these reasons was the fact that Jack was still technically married to Lucy.

His argument was logical. She finally had the career she always wanted, but put on hold to raise Chad. It wasn't the Supreme Court but being the Director of Diversity Programs and EEO for a major corporation before her 36th birthday is a major accomplishment.

She never regretted having Chad only staying married to Charles and letting everyone else decide how she should live the rest of her life because she had a kid at 17. She let everyone else convince her that now that she had Chad, her dream of being the first Hispanic woman on the court would never happen. Most of her family did not believe she could handle law school with a preschool age Chad. She believed to this day that Jack pulled various strings just to get Chad into school early so she could start law school sooner.

Now 18 years later, could she really balance a job that would take her out of town two weeks a month with a newborn? With Charles that was completely impossible, but things are different this time around. Jack was always an involved parent and grandfather for that matter. He was not above diaper changing, laundry, and cooking. However, would he really want to go through this again?

They were essentially grandparents for god's sake. For all intensive purposes, she had an 18 year old son with his own children, even if said children came about due to unfortunate circumstance, instead of broken condoms. Mentally, she was preparing herself and Chad for the very high possibility that Tiffany will never recover. In her heart, she already considered Isaac and Olivia her grandchildren. (The fact that she became a grandmother through adoption was the only reason why she was not panicking over becoming a grandmother at 35.) Chad and Sharpay needed her help. Unlike most couples, the two didn't have nine months to prepare for this. If it wasn't for her son's ability to learn how to do anything from reading a book she was sure Chad would be completely screwed.

She wouldn't have time to help Chad with the joys of potty training when she was dealing with her own crying bundle of joy. She was already dealing with high amounts of sleepless nights and they were not even her children. Jack was right, a baby would be impractical. Maybe that's why she burst into tears when she saw her positive pregnancy test this morning.

"Are you completely sure?" Caroline asked the woman that she is known for the last six years.

"Caroline, you are **pregnant**. I've already run the test twice. You took two tests at home before you even got here. You have been throwing up for days and I'm pretty sure I saw you dip your French fries in raspberry fudge ice cream when we had lunch before you left for DC. Also, your period purse is nowhere to be seen." She joked.

"Does everybody know about that?" Caroline responded with a groan.

"We have known each other for a very long time. I noticed that sort of thing. I'm sure the pregnancy denial is most likely caused by the fact you have an 18 year old college sophomore. As long as you are sexually active and your ovaries work, that's usually what happens eventually." Alex answered her truthfully before continuing.

"You are only a few weeks but you're pregnant. I would put conception sometime around the weekend that Jack went up to see you. I did not need to know about what you did with the flavor condoms that weekend." Alexis mumbled the last part under her breath.

"Are you sure?" Caroline asked again, becoming more panicked by the second. As the lawyer she is, Caroline was looking in her mind for every shred of evidence that would make this impossible.

"I'm on the pill. We used condoms every time including during the 'drunk Thanksgiving incident'." She said trying to deny the obvious. The argument seemed to fall apart just as fast as they did during yesterday's infamous 'a baby would be really bad' conversation.

If she was going to get pregnant, Thanksgiving would have been the weekend to do it but that was not the case. The nausea and late period was a very recent thing. The nausea could easily be explained by developing an extreme sensitivity to dirty diapers or picking up some sort of virus. Considering how much time she spent in hospitals recently, it would be a miracle she did not catch something. As she argued in that conversation that she is trying not to think about right now, a late period could have been most likely trigger by stress. Between her ex husband's antics, Tiffany's hospitalization, teaching her son and pseudo daughter how to take care of newborns, and Troy almost getting killed by a strawberry milkshake she had lots of reasons to be stressful.

"I have had 13 year olds and their parents who were in less denial than you are right now." Alexis said with an annoyed sigh before continuing. "Accept it, you're pregnant. You do remember the only absolutely foolproof way not to get pregnant is to not have sex. I know for a fact you are not using that method. You've been smiling too much recently."

"Trust me, I know that. I have an 18 year old to prove it. Abstinence was my method of choice during my first marriage to make sure Chad didn't get any unwanted siblings because there was no way in hell I was bringing another kid into that situation." Caroline remarked darkly.

"It worked so well." Alexis said sardonically.

"However, that method is not an option with Jack. You're right about the possible timing and the sometimes ineffectiveness of birth control. I was on antibiotics during Jack's surprise visit to DC but we still used condoms." That's when she remembered Jack bringing up the counterfeit condom recall last night.

"Oh fuck!" Caroline exclaimed as she remembers what they used the counterfeit condoms for during their inauguration sex fast. "How could this happen again? Stupid, counterfeit condoms." She was beyond angry at that moment.

"The recalled condoms were only sold in Dirty Little Secret Boutiques. There's none on the side of the country." Alexis said obviously knowing about the recall because of her line of work.

"Alexis you forget that until a few weeks ago, I lived in DC. There is one at Pentagon City only a couple miles from my old apartment. During that particular weekend, I picked up a pleasure pack." Caroline said putting her head in her hands as she began to cry.

"That's not good." Alexis said as she patted her back. "By chance did…" Alexis started but did not finish. Maybe she relies that was not the best question to ask when your friend is crying hysterically in front of you, but Caroline understood the question.

"I don't know if Taylor went into the store. She mostly hung out with Ryan and Kim. Considering Kim was surprised at the site of a little blue plus sign this morning, you may want to call Taylor just in case she paid DLS a visit. I have a feeling that Kim was another victim of counterfeit condoms. At least Mr. Kim and Jack will be less angry because this pregnancy was most likely caused by greed and corporate negligence. Kim actually took three tests before agreeing to come here after running away. Sharpay and Penelope barely calmed her down. I better go in with you when you talk to her since I am 99% positive you're going to confirm the results." Caroline said with a sigh.

"You can see her afterwards. I'll call you in if she needs moral support." Alexis said confirming the results without actually saying anything.

"That works. Actually, would you mind retesting Sharpay? I may not know for sure about Taylor but I know Sharpay went into that store and probably picked something up after I left. Oh god, they can't deal with three kids." Alexis just looked away at that. She probably knew better than anybody how truly bad the situation with Tiffany really was and she didn't have to deal with the lawyers from Tiffany's mother who were conspiring to do only god knew what.

"I'll take care of it. So much for having the afternoon off, I will call Taylor later. I probably should borrow Kim's cell phone because Taylor is not answering my calls." Alexis mumbled to herself.

"I thought things were getting better." Caroline asked her friend in concern. She knew that the relationship between mother and daughter has been strained in recent months after Taylor's adoption came to light. However, since New Year Alexis seemed more upbeat about the situation.

"So did I. I knew things were going to be different once Taylor found out she was not my biological daughter. Maybe that's why we waited so long to tell her. I hope she would eventually understand that just because I didn't give birth to her doesn't mean I don't love her unconditionally. I do love her and that's why I'm so worried. She has been distant since the inauguration. I know something happened in DC."

"I don't know. Although listening to me walk in on her ex boyfriend losing his virginity probably did not help things." Caroline said with a slight cringe remembering the embarrassing scene.

"Oh god, you have to be kidding." Alexis asked with an open mouth.

"No, not really, I'll tell you everything later." Caroline said quickly not wanting to relive the experience now or ever.

"I didn't want her to go there but there is no way I can talk her out of transferring to the DC area. If Taylor wants to do something, you can't stop her. I just hope she didn't run into…" Again, Alexis just let the words stand in the air as if she was afraid to go on.

"Her real father?" Caroline prompted.

"Yes. He has never been a very good person but most people don't realize that until it's too late. He's good at covering his tracks. He wouldn't be a senator now if he couldn't take care of his own dirty laundry. It takes a sick individual to hire a hit man to take care of the consequences of fucking the intern over literally." Caroline was not shocked by this revelation because she heard this story before but the names were changed to protect the guilty.

"I know this tale. It was practically an urban legend among law students in the nineties. When I was in law school, it became the ultimate cautionary tale of what not to do during a legal internship. 'Don't sleep with the Partners' was drilled into my head by multiple Professors. Rumor has it that an intern at some big law firm in DC got pregnant by a senior partner and ended up in intensive care because she wouldn't get rid of the evidence of his indiscretion. My old professor Alena Suarez worked at the firm before losing her stomach for it after what happened. That's how she ended up at some tiny law school in Albuquerque. She's a judge now. Everybody including Professor Suarez thought it was the baby's father who did it but it couldn't be proven. According to legend, the baby did not survive and the girl disappeared into the night. Kim's stepmom is the girl from the rumor?" Caroline asked already knowing the answer.

"Yes, although that wasn't quite what happened, but close enough. Whatever I say must stay between us. The only way to keep Taylor safe was to give her up. He wasn't going to give up. Only a handful of people know Vanessa's true identity." Alexis said almost on the verge of tears.

"I understand." Caroline said not really.

"I think what happened is why I feel so bad for Tiffany. It's like reliving the catastrophe all over again. I'm just glad we were able to save the babies." Alexis said with shaky breath.

"Me too, they are completely adorable." Caroline said with a smile before it faded quickly. "I just wasn't planning on supplying a playmate any time soon."

"Finding out your pregnant when your child is in college can be hard on anyone. I thought Taylor was going to be an only child. We tried for years and nothing happened. Then along came Jason. Come to think of it, Taylor was just as big of a surprise. I was just accepting that I was never going to be a mom after the fourth negative pregnancy test in a roll and then Vanessa calls out of the blue asking for a huge favor."

"You said yes?" Caroline asked knowing the answer.

"Not until I held Taylor in my arms for the first time. At that moment, I knew she was mine no matter how she came into the world." Alexis said truthfully.

"I felt the same way when I held Chad for the first time. I'm just so scared." she said in a whisper.

"You shouldn't be. Things are a lot better this time around. First, you are gainfully employed and living on your own. Unlike the first time around, you actually love the guy who knocked you up. Most important of all, Jack is not a complete prick with a schoolgirl fetish." Alexis added darkly.

"There's always that." She said quickly.

"I'm sure Jack will react better than Charles did when he found out your pregnant." Caroline couldn't help but laugh at Alexis's words.

"Anything short of killing me would be better than handing me $500 to get an abortion. I know Jack too well to see him reacting the way Charles did." Caroline told her honestly. Other than Jack, no one else knows about that. She hoped with everything in her that Chad would never find out. He already thinks his existence is a complete mistake despite everything she has told him to the contrary.

"I think Charles tried to do the right thing with Tiffany because of the money that he could get from it. He's the most selfish person I know. He only married me because my father offered to pay for his master's degree." Caroline said as a few tears slid down her cheeks.

"Why am I not surprised? I think I understand why you're so afraid and displaying a level of denial that I normally get from my under 18 patients. Even though you know Jack is the complete antithesis of Charles, you're afraid he's going to behave the same way. He's not. He loves you." Alexis said getting a little too close to the real issue at hand.

"What if he doesn't? What if I'm just the rebound?" Caroline said in a whisper forcing her fears allowed.

"You're not the rebound. The first time I saw you and Jack together at some parent teacher conference then I actually thought that the two of you were lovers because of the way he acted around you. There was just something there." Apparently, everybody noticed what was going on except her and Jack.

"Technically, he is still married to Lucy. Maybe he will want to go back to her." Even as she said the words aloud, it sounded ridiculous to her.

"That ring says otherwise." She said pointing to her engagement ring and practically laughing. "You and I both know all those bridges are burnt and the only reason why he is still married to her is because she refuses to sign the divorce papers. What are you really afraid of?" That is when Caroline recounted the entire conversation from the night before.

"I don't think you understood what he was saying. He never once said he did not want a baby, he just said now was a bad time. Which he is right, considering he is still technically married to someone else. However, it's a little too late to do the right thing now." Alexis said literally holding up her test results.

"I want to believe that." Caroline started out quickly as she wiped her eyes.

"Take a few moments to compose yourself before we deal with the youngsters."

* * *

The rest of the afternoon Caroline kept her fears inside and was the supporting adult and pseudo mother figure for two girls who never really had a mom, at least one they cared. She couldn't think about Jack's reaction because she needed to keep Kim as calm as possible. It didn't help when seconds later Kim bolted out the door only stopping long enough to grab her purse. Hours later the 21-year-old still has not return any of her calls or text messages.

She also had to be there for Sharpay but fortunately not for a reason that would make her a biological grandmother any time soon. At least she could be thankful for that even if she was upset to learn that it may never happen at all. She held Sharpay's hand during the vaginal exam as her body went completely rigid at the mere sight of a speculum. Caroline was the shoulder to cry on when Alexis had to tell the 19 year old that they needed to do more tests because it was highly possible that she could never have children.

Now she and Sharpay sat in a parking lot outside Alexis' office with Sharpay trying not to cry. Caroline was just happy that the babies were currently asleep in the back after their most recent bottle.

"Sharpay there's no point in worrying until you know for sure. Even then, there is still hope. When Alexis was in her twenties they told her she would never be able to get pregnant then a few years later she had Jason. Doctors can be wrong sometimes and there's always knew fertility treatments coming out every day." She said putting a hand on Sharpay's shoulder.

"I know. I've always known that Jason was very special. Not being pregnant right now is a good thing. I'm already dealing with lack of sleep and dirty diapers; I don't need stretch marks to go with it. It's just in my head I have all these dreams about Chad and I walking our baby down the street or being the proud parents at her first play. It's hard to let go of dead dreams." Sharpay's said with a sniffle as she wiped at her tears.

"You are already doing the stroller thing this afternoon. You are also throwing the baby coming out party of the year this weekend. Congratulations, you are a mom. Does it really matter if the child is yours biologically?" She asked the girl who would become her daughter in law as soon as she would allow it.

"No it doesn't. Olivia and Isaac are mine. I know I shouldn't get attached but from the first moment I held the babies I knew that they were mine and it was my job to protect them from everything in the world. I'm just so afraid that I'm going to lose the two." Sharpay was crying even harder then.

"You mean if Tiffany does not wake up?" Caroline prompted.

"I talked to the specialist that my father flew in from the Cleveland clinic. He came because his wife was one of Tiffany's professors. He didn't sugarcoat it for me. He believes the brain damage is more severe than we initially thought. If she does wake up there is a 74.3% chance that Tiffany may not even be able to feed herself, much less take care of two babies." Sharpay said not looking at her.

"Why are you afraid?" Caroline asked.

"Tiffany's mother, I don't trust her. She reminds me too much of my mother. I know she is going to challenge the custody arrangement." Sharpay said voicing the same concern that Caroline had. She made sure the custody papers had no loopholes herself, but the legal system was a very tricky entity.

"You have the best legal team in the state, she doesn't stand a chance. No one is taking those babies without a fight." Caroline said in an attempt to reassure her knowing full well that things could go wrong. After being a lawyer for over a decade, she knew that justice sometimes went to the person with the bigger checkbook. Fortunately for everyone, Sharpay's father has the biggest checkbook in Albuquerque excluding Sharpay's best friend.

Sharpay just smiled at her through watery eyes as she moved her hand on to Caroline still flat stomach.

"Are you scared?" Sharpay was obviously referring to her pregnancy.

"Completely petrified." She answered honestly.

"You shouldn't be. Jack loves you. Let's be honest he's going to be more angry at Troy than anything. He will be too distracted by that to panic about the new kid." Sharpay said just before enveloping her in a hug.

"You're probably right. Come on lets go pick up some dinner before the babies regain consciousness because I know you're not going to feel like cooking." Caroline said pulling away as she wipes at her own tears that were beginning to fall.

"We better go to Chad's favorite restaurant. I'll tell him about everything once he is fed." Again, Sharpay said without making any eye contact.

"Everything will be okay." Caroline was unsure if this was an actual promise or just wishful thinking.

* * *

Today was not a good day by any definition of the word. It started with his girlfriend sneaking out of bed 30 minutes before the alarm went off to signal another day at a job he was beginning to despise more and more. There were other activities he wanted to participate in now that Caroline was home for good. With the recent chaos, Caroline was the only thing worth waking up for recently and thanks to an offer from Sharpay's father he would have this almost every morning. The last few days with her in DC to close everything out was difficult though he told himself that she would be home for good as soon as she got back.

Yet that morning, Caroline seem to be just as far away from him, despite the kiss goodbye, that she might as well still be in DC and he knew why. It was obvious that she was still upset with him regarding a certain conversation the night before. In hindsight, even if what he said was true he should have had said it differently. Maybe his bad day really began the night before when he found multiple pregnancy tests in the Harris Teeter shopping bag buried underneath the sink.

"Why exactly are there 10 pregnancy tests in the bathroom?" He asked as he wondered out into the master bedroom in a daze.

"Are you late?" He asked this question mostly because he was sure that she was considering what they did the moment she got home. Also, after knowing Caroline for nearly 20 years, he knows to look for an extra large purse filled with pads and good chocolate bars every fourth Tuesday of the month. Said purse was still in her suitcase. After being married for nearly two decades, Jack knew the importance of keeping track of such things mostly so he would remember to schedule late night practices on those days. That should have been the first sign that his marriage was destined to fall apart.

"Stop worrying. The tests are not for me." She said quickly.

"Then who are they for?" Jack asked not believing her.

"One of Sharpay's friends is late after doing something very stupid a couple weeks ago with a guy at a party. She did take plan B, but you know that doesn't work if you are already pregnant. She's in complete denial about the possibility. Since I have been through this before, I was asked to assist with the intervention. I told you about what my friend had to do for me to accept that I was pregnant with Chad." He knew everything about that time, sometimes more than he would like to. Considering what happened next, he could understand why she was so reluctant to admit that she was pregnant with Chad.

"I remember she took the test with you. So that's what you're planning on doing?" He asked.

"Pretty much. We'll do it first thing in the morning with everyone at the house as soon as Chad is safely on his way to his first class." Caroline said, grabbing the tests out of his hands and putting them back in the bathroom.

"You may want to take one just in case. Your period purse is still in the closet." Jack remarked not sure if he was serious or not but after teaching the not exactly sanctioned by Principal Dave sexual health curriculum for 14 years he knew the signs of pregnancy very well. He knew that when she was in DC, Caroline was throwing up almost every morning claiming it was some sort of virus. Today she made him wear a different aftershave because his normal scent made her queasy. Then there is also the fact that he was 99% sure he saw her dip a pickle in peanut butter this afternoon.

"Period purse?" She asked in puzzlement.

"Normally you just carry everything in your work bag including your cell phone and your wallet except under certain circumstances. However, four days out of every month you carry a purse with you that is usually stocked with lots of Belgian chocolate." This revelation led to her grabbing her phone and looking at the calendar.

"I should have started yesterday. How can you know I'm late and I didn't?"

"I'm a very observant person." He said with a smirk.

"Just because I'm late, doesn't mean I am pregnant. Late periods can be caused by other things besides pregnancy such as stress, which I have a lot of at the moment. I just moved across the country again and have to deal with the stress of my ex husband almost killing his girlfriend and subsequently making me a grandmother before my 36th birthday without giving Sharpay morning sickness. I am on the pill and we used condoms every time. I'm not concerned." She said defensively in a way that told Jack she was worried. Unfortunately, he didn't come to this realization until an hour later.

"Maybe you should be. If the pill worked every time, I would not be a grandfather now." Jack pointed out. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have said this.

"Good point. This is why we are still using condoms even though I know you don't like it. I also know the only 100% sure way to prevent pregnancy until I go through menopause is abstinence. Unlike with my ex husband, that's not an option." Caroline said with a smirk.

"Very true, however, you do remember the recent condom recall?" Looking back on it now he should have picked up on the little bit of fear in her eyes, but he didn't.

"I'm pretty sure we only use those for activities that don't lead to pregnancy. Don't worry. I'm not pregnant." She said again. He wondered who she was trying to convince more.

"It's still possible." Jack brought up again. Part of him wanted it to be possible. The other part of him knew this was the wrong time. Maybe in a year or two, but not now. They probably have another 10 years at least to worry about such things, maybe longer.

"I'm starting to think I should have just dropped the tests off at Kim's house if I knew you were going to freak out worse than Chad would." She said giving him an irritated look.

"I'm not freaking out. It's just this is not a good time for us to bring another child into the world. You just accepted a new job that's going to have you on a plane a lot. I told you how bad things are at work now. I'm not sure I'm going to be working at East High next year. Dave is still upset that the New Mexico High School Athletics Board will be taking a very close look at East High right now. I know with your brand new high six figure job you could take care of the house and everything else including a new kid on your own but I wouldn't want you to. I never had a problem with my wife making more money than me but I like to at least be able to put dinner on the table." Lucy always made 2 to 3 times as much money as he did. Apparently, that bothered her more than it did him. That is why they lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods in the Albuquerque area. The income difference was why Jack found it so insane that she was suing him for spousal support now.

"After my first marriage, I would be happy with a husband who would at least carry the food into the house. The fact that you can actually cook is even better."

"I guess I should thank Charles for giving you such low standards. Of course, he is also the reason why things are so complicated now. Because of him, your busy helping Chad and Sharpay take care of newborns. Could you imagine taking care of three children under the age of one simultaneously?" He asked her seriously. Again, maybe this wasn't the best time to ask that question.

"No." She said not looking at him. He didn't recognize her pensive look then but looking back on the memory he notices it now. In hindsight, he should have stopped their, instead he continued on voicing his real fear. He probably should have told Caroline that he would love to have a child with her someday even if Kim will probably kill him for giving Alex another aunt or uncle that was technically younger than him. Instead of reassuring her, he said what he said next and he will regret it.

"Then there's Lucy."

"What about Lucy?"

"First of all there is the fact that I'm still technically married to her. She is determined to hold up this divorce as long as possible. This could be just another thing she will use to make the process as miserable as possible. I'll be lucky to survive with the shirt on my back." He didn't really care if he did. He just wanted out.

"If the government doesn't seize it first." Caroline said with a laugh but in hindsight it seemed forced.

"Who cares if the government takes it, if she can get more? I think she's after Kim's money. Kim feels incredibly guilty for what she believes is her role in the end of my marriage. You know that Kim would be willing to give a couple million for Lucy to go way. You being pregnant would just give Lucy more ammunition." Maybe he should have said that Lucy would know that Caroline being pregnant would be another reason why Jack would want to get the divorce over with as quickly as possible. As cliché as it sounds, hindsight is 20/20.

"Her divorce lawyer is a sleaze ball and I know he would use every dirty trick that they don't teach in law school. However, there is nothing to worry about. I'm not pregnant. " Caroline said again as she got up from the bed. It was obvious that she was angry. "Where are you going?"

"I forgot I had to do something for the party this weekend." Even in the moment, Jack felt this was an excuse. She just wanted to get away from him.

"I thought the staff at the Garden Hotel are taking care of everything?" He asked quickly trying to catch Caroline In her excuse.

"Sharpay made a special request and I couldn't say no. It's a surprise. You will find out Saturday." She left without kissing him.

Jack does not fall asleep until she returns 2 hours later giving him plenty of time to think about what he really said. He doesn't have time to tell Caroline that he would love to have a child with her even if Lucy will use such a thing as ammunition because she falls asleep the moment her head hits the pillow. Caroline is out the door the next morning before he has time to talk to her. He considers going over to Kim's house but decides not to. If things turn out badly he doesn't want to be surrounded by crying teenagers. He tells her that he loves her in a text message before heading off to a job that he is slowly beginning to despise over the last few months.

He doesn't loathe his job because of the subject matter change, at least not as much as he expected to. He enjoyed teaching English again and no longer having to deal with extremely immature freshmen who giggled every time he said the word testicle or uterus during the sexual health chapter. Ironically enough last semester 12 year old Jason was the most well behave (except for certain jokes about what he accidentally saw on thanksgiving). Although, that may have something to do with the fact his mother is a gynecologist.

Jack hated his boss even if they used to be friends. He was already 100% sure that having him take over Miss Darbus' classes was a punishment for Troy and Kim breaking his 'no teen pregnancies at East High' record. Dismantling the drama department and hiring someone, who will most likely takeover Jack's position as head coach, in addition to his old job, was punishment for choosing Troy over coaching the championship game in addition to reporting what his assistant coach did to the New Mexico high school athletics association. Actually, there are probably multiple reasons for his punishment including not kicking Jimmy off the team for being not heterosexual to kicking every person who was involved in Kerri's near rape off the team.

Jack understands his boss better than anyone. All Dave cared about was winning and image at all cost. That was probably why he allowed the social apartheid at East High to continue for so long, it made it easier to force everybody into the image of his desire. The faculty was never instructed to stop it. Actually, they were discouraged from doing so. Maybe they were just lucky they didn't have an incident of a Columbine nature.

Now, the system was falling apart. The captain of the basketball team was a future music major who just happened to be bisexual. The one before him, not counting the attempted rapist, is a single father who is now a theater major at Berkeley. There is also his co captain who was responsible for more Ivy League schools visiting East High than in the rest of Jack's time as a basketball coach. Jack was being punished for allowing that to happen.

He knew Dave wanted him to be furious but Jack didn't say a word as he was essentially told that he wouldn't have a job at the end of the year. He will always love East High but it was time to move on.

Word of Principal Dave's little stunt had already spread and within an hour Jack had e-mails from the athletics department of almost every private high school in the state. There was even one from A of U. He probably only received such a message because half the coaching staff probably won't be there next year after the NCAA finishes their investigation, but he was still flattered. He had options and knowing that was enough to make the fear of the unknown go away.

Unfortunately, tucked away under all the other messages was an e-mail from the one woman he never wanted to hear from again, outside of a courtroom. The sooner the divorce was finalized, the sooner she would be out of his life for good. Even the fact they had a child together would not matter. Troy did not want anything to do with his mother for what she did to both Kim and Gabriella.

Jack should have just sent the message to his attorney before notifying the police that Lucy broke her restraining order, but he didn't. He justified opening the message on the grounds that he needed to verify it was actually from Lucy and not spam.

After reading the first few words, he wished he didn't. In the middle was a picture of Caroline picking up multiple pregnancy tests the day before. Underneath was the caption "It looks like you're little whore is pregnant, I doubt the baby is yours. You never know with someone like her. If you think I'm going to let you go just so you can play happy family with that bitch then you are sadly mistaken. I'm not signing the papers until both the bitches are gone along with that thing that is supposedly my grandkid. You do what I say or else" The font was even blood red.

Jack was furious and worried at the same time. If he wasn't in his classroom filled with students, he would be throwing his phone against the wall. The only way Lucy could have obtained that image was if she was stalking Caroline. That scared the hell out of him. If Caroline was pregnant, and Jack was pretty sure that she was, who knows how far Lucy will go. She was beyond imbalanced. He was worried about what she would do. Jack spent a great deal of his morning talking to the police and his lawyer.

According to his divorce legal team, Lucy's team already asked that the hearing be pushed back. Jack personally believed Lucy did this to give him time to carry out her demands. The only thing this is going to do was lead to her bail being revoked.

He was actually glad that Kim called him and told him that she wasn't coming to school that afternoon. He knew he would have to tell her about Lucy eventually but he didn't want to do it until his ex wife was back in police custody. Of course, her excuse of a last minute doctor's appointment because she threw up on Chad in physics class made him suspicious along with the fact that she mentioned nothing about what happened that morning even when he asked her directly. Instead, she pretended that the call was dropped. He tried to call her again to let her know about the change in the hearing but she did not pick up forcing him to resort to text messages.

His girlfriend was just as elusive. He received a text message letting him know that she was spending the afternoon with Sharpay to take the twins to a last minute check up. He didn't believe her but he would wait until that afternoon.

Of his three helpers, only Penelope actually showed up that day. For the first few weeks, he followed her lead in the drama class but now he was getting more comfortable. He may actually be able to survive a play this spring if they actually get to have one. He is also getting more used to Penelope and therefore he knew something was wrong. She's normally a very outgoing person but today she seemed withdrawn. She was twitchy and going out of her way to avoid him for most of the 90 minute even going so far as to take her group out to the stage to perform. Before that, she kept pulling out her phone every few minutes sending text messages, which was unlike her. The final sign was she wouldn't look at him as he recounted his encounter with Principal Dave after class. Penelope was not happy.

"That's complete bullshit." Penelope said not caring that she cursed. "I don't believe for one moment his excuse about budget cuts. Everyone knows the drama department at East High has been privately funded for the last five years. The Evans foundation donated so much money to the school district that some of it even went to the West High drama department. This year, Kim has offered to pay for the whole thing no matter where we hold it. Given that, we should still do the musical just not here. This morning it was decided that I would be in charge of looking in to alternate venues because I have the most free time right now. We can get the theater at A of U for a price but I'm not sure if it's in the budget. I don't know because Kim has not return any of my text messages. We could always do the play at West High but I think a neutral location would be better." He knew Penelope said that because she was probably one of the few people who knew how intense the cross-town rivalry really was between the two schools.

"That would probably be best. I think you're right that Principal Dave is doing this for his own reasons and we should put the musical on anyway. You're also right about needing to do this on neutral ground if we are going to let students from any school in the district take part. I'll talk to Kim." Jack said quickly.

"That's okay; I'll take care of it. She is not returning my calls and messages; I doubt she is going to talk to you. She is probably terrified of you at the moment. Kim is convinced you're going to want to…" Penelope said quickly before stopping in the middle of her sentence as if she said too much.

"Why would Kim be terrified of me?" Jack asked already suspecting the answer.

"No reason, no reason at all." Penelope said already grabbing her purse from behind his desk. "I have an exam to study for, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Penelope stop, during this morning's 'intervention' were any of the tests positive?"

"You knew about that?" Penelope asked sheepishly.

"I found the bag of tests last night. I thought Caroline was pregnant and she promptly explained why it was impossible, in her mind anyway." Jack said quickly before Penelope let out a nervous laugh.

"Why am I surrounded by guys who are more aware of the possibility than their partners?" Penelope mumbled to herself as she continued to laugh nervously.

"Yes, some of the tests were positive. Fortunately, I was one of those with a negative test." Penelope said with visible relief.

"Kim's test was positive?" He asked purposely not mentioning Caroline. He wanted to know from her. The fact that Penelope was not looking at him pretty much confirmed the truth.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. At least Troy is over 18 this time." He said with another sigh. No matter how responsible you are some things just happen. He personally wished this happened a year from now when they were both in the same state but at least Kim and Troy's relationship was stable now if nothing else in their lives.

"You're taking this well. Kim was expecting screaming and crying before being disallowed from the family again." As Penelope said this, Jack remembered that first weekend in Vegas months ago. No matter how hard she tried, Mr. Kim would not forgive Kim for what happened.

"It's a lot easier to take the second time. Also, I never reacted like that." He said defensively fully aware of who did.

"According to Kim, everyone else did. I mean you know what her mother did. I think she is terrified it's going to happen again." He is sure Kim would be. Somewhere in the back of her mind, there would constantly be this sense of doubt and mistrust. Caroline never trusted her family the same way again after what happened when she was 16.

"Fuck." He muttered quickly hoping that Penelope did not hear him. He was the only one who knew Charles real reaction to finding out that Caroline was pregnant. He was the one who saw her body after she told her father about being pregnant. Did those thoughts come to mine at the possibility of another pregnancy? All his very logical reasons for why this was a bad time probably made things worse. Maybe that's why she was so distant after their conversation.

"Penelope let's talk about producing the musical somewhere else after things calm down a little bit. It's only February. Last year's production did not happen until the end of May." Jack said as he ran over to his desk.

"You're right. We have time. We don't have to start rehearsals until late march. Just don't be that hard on Kim. You have no idea how worried she was about how you would react, probably more than her own father. She really respects you. I think she's just afraid of history repeating itself." Penelope said as she walked to the door.

"I think you're right." Jack said as he grabbed his thing and walked out of his classroom.

On the way home he grabbed an 'I am sorry for being an idiot' apology gift along with a dozen orange roses. He chose orange because it symbolized the connection between friendship and love as well as signifying passion. Okay, he really chose that color because it was two days before Valentine's Day and red roses were a little scarce. An hour later, Caroline walked into the house carrying what appeared to be dinner.

"I'm sorry," was out of his mouth before she was even in the house.

"Why are you apologizing?" She asked putting dinner on the table. That's when she noticed the orange roses and the baby teddy bear complete with diaper.

"For a lot of things, I should have expressed things differently last night. I want to have a child with you someday even if that day happens to be today or rather nine months from now no matter how it complicates things."

"37 weeks but we will go with it." She confirmed and Jack kissed her on the lips.

"This wasn't the reaction I was expecting." She said as tears slid down her cheeks. Jack was unsure if these were happy tears.

"I know what you were expecting. I'm not Charles. I know what he did to you. If you remember correctly, I was the one who knocked him out for thinking he could buy you off. Yesterday was mostly about why trying to have a child right now would be bad. But I can't help loving a child that is already here because it's part of you." He said running a finger over her tear stain cheeks before placing a hand on her still flat stomach.

"You get bonus points for that." Caroline said as her tears decreased.

"I try. Honestly, I was just scared. The fact that we're going to have a child together makes me want to get Lucy out of my life faster. It's just going to be hard now." Jack said with an aggravated sigh.

"I know she is going to use this against us." Caroline said bitterly.

"She already has." Jack said with shaky breath already reaching for his blackberry. He knew that he needed to show her.  
"What are you talking about?" As soon as she asked, he passed his blackberry to her.

"Oh my god, she's insane." Despite her tough persona, he noticed Caroline was shaking.

"I've already sent this to the lawyers and the police." Jack said in reassurance.

"That's good because those pictures were not taken here in Albuquerque. That was taken in Arlington. I picked up the test at the Harris Teeter by Reagan National. I thought I saw somebody there who looked like her but I dismissed it because she is legally not supposed to leave the state of New Mexico." Her words automatically filled him with dread.

"This is not good."

**To be continued.**


	41. Conversations with people in comas

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I chose to use this particular format in this chapter to help move the story along and pick up the pace. Again, I would really like to get the story done before the end of the year. I now have great respect and sympathy for the writers of Castaway. It so much easier to write dialogue when there are two characters speaking. Chad and Sharpay will dominate the next part but this is necessary for plot development.

**This chapter takes place close to two weeks after the last one.**

Warning: Grab a tissue. I started crying when writing this.

* * *

**Chapter 41: Conversations with people in comas: part one.**

It was actually rainy and slushy outside as Kerri made her way to the Albuquerque Rehabilitation Center where her cousin was now staying in one of the more upscale rooms at the best rehab center in the state. Kerri thought it was absurd for any rehabilitation center to have 'upscale" rooms but Kerri also knew Sharpay. Sharpay shows she cares with gifts and making sure Tiffany had the best room in the center was part of that. This explains why the rehab center was in one of the better suburbs with very limited bus service. The great Valentine's Day baby coming out party a week and a half ago was an excellent example of that. It was extremely extravagant, complete with DJ, caviar encrusted hors d'oeuvres, filet Mignon sliders, and a very well stocked open bar that half the guests were too young to enjoy.

As she made her way from the bus stop three blocks away through the winter mix, Kerri wished she still had a boyfriend who had a car. Sharpay's gift of really expensive winter boots would be completely ruined by the time she gets to the center. The only person who knew she was coming here was Jackie because let's be honest her mom was too busy with her own life to care about her 15 year old daughter. At least she and Jackie were really friends again now that she was sans boyfriend. She lost her boyfriend but got her best friend back. It was probably an even trade.

When she made her way inside, Kerri wasn't surprised to see that her Cousin's room was completely redecorated from when they moved Tiffany to the center last week. The walls were now purple, which happened to be Tiffany's favorite color. There was also a plush couch where the other bed was before. The once their walls were now filled with art and pictures of Tiffany's life. On the bed stand was a picture of Chad and Tiffany from the day before everything fell apart. Chad had his hands on Tiffany's belly at the state championship semifinals. The site alone made Kerri want to cry.

This may be the last picture of her cousin alive. Tiffany may be still breathing but being in a coma is not living. Because Kerri is 15 they think that she is too young to deal with what's really going on but she has over heard enough in the last couple weeks to know how bleak the situation really is. A 22% chance now that Tiffany will wake up. Even if she did, the person coming back to life may not be Tiffany. Kerri's mom wanted to stop support and let Tiffany die gracefully, supposedly. Kim and Chad wanted to honor Tiffany's wishes as outlined in her durable power of attorney. It was enough to make her break down in tears.

Beside that image was a picture of Chad and Sharpay holding Isaac and Olivia at the baby coming out party. She can tell by the banner above and the pile of presence. If she remembered correctly seconds later Olivia throw up, completely ruining her designer baby dress. However, in that moment they looked like the perfect family. Such an image was bittersweet. Tiffany should be the one holding her babies instead she is in this place hooked up to various machines most likely never to regain consciousness. It wasn't fair, but nothing in life is.

Beside that picture, was one of her and Jimmy from a few weeks ago. As Kerri looks closely, she now realizes they do not look like two people in love but rather best friends. Why was it so easy for her to see that now?

No one other than Jackie and Marc knew about the breakup. Her mom wouldn't care at all and Sharpay was too busy with baby stuff. Kerri couldn't add one more burden. Considering she still ate lunch with Jimmy every day and they were still on mostly amicable terms, it was probably hard for most people to tell. Actually, the only thing that was different was the lack of making out. Jason M was completely clueless about the demise of their relationship. Jason C on the other hand probably blamed Jimmy for making his boyfriend disappear. Now that was a bad breakup. It was his own fault for being a closet case, Kerri thought as she almost took down the picture of her and Jimmy. She changed her mind at the last minute choosing to sit down in the extremely comfortable chair next to Tiffany's bed. It was probably best to have pictures of happy moments around since there were so few.

"Hey, Tiffany. Do you have any idea how much I miss you?" She asked her cousin as she ran a hand over Tiffany's hair trying to keep the tears from falling. Tiff looked great for someone in a coma. She had a feeling that Sharpay was making sure Tiffany was the best looking patient in rehab. The designer pajamas instead of the signature hospital gown, was an obvious sign that was the case.

"I'm sorry I haven't been to visit since they moved you in to the Sharpay Evans suite. We did not even have time to chat last time because everybody was around and I am trying to keep some of this stuff private. Yes, I know I've been a bad cousin. Things have been slightly schizophrenic for the last few days." That was putting it mildly, Kerri thought as she said the words.

"You have missed so much in the last couple weeks. First, the babies are getting bigger by the day. They no longer have to wear the preemie clothing. They have the best baby wardrobe ever. I swear Sharpay has spent a small fortune on baby things but you already knew that. Their nursery is fully loaded with two of the best of everything. You know how Sharpay is, nothing says I love you like pulling out the credit card." Kerri said with a slight chuckle before running a finger over Tiffany's still cheek.

"Your babies are safe and in good hands and I'm not talking about all the baby presents. She's a good mom, much better than the one I have. Sharpay really does love those babies. You can tell from her incredible baby bedtime stories alone. Actually, they both love Olivier and Isaac. Chad treats those babies more like his children then his bratty brother and sister. You'll be happy to know Chad's parenting skills were inherited mostly from Jack and Caroline."

How can a bastard, like Charles, produce someone as good as Chad? It was probably due to lack of personal involvement. Kerri was personally thankful for that.

"I have been spending a lot of time after school at Sharpay and Chad's condo spending quality time with the Cousins." Okay so she was spending vast amounts of time with the baby Cousins mostly to avoid a certain ex boyfriend and the possibility of seeing him making out with his most likely new boyfriend but she didn't need to burden Tiffany would that. I mean Tiff's last boyfriend tried to kill her. The worst Jimmy ever did to her was hold onto his feelings for Marc. That was pretty mild compared to the reason for Kerri's last break up.

"Their adorable when they're not pooping all the time. You'll be happy to know I can change a diaper in under a minute now." Kerri said with a genuine smile. "I have actually spent the night a couple of times because Sharpay didn't want me staying home alone with mom working the night shift. They have the space. Their new place is about three times bigger than my house with five bedrooms. I didn't even have to ask she just offered. You know how much I hate staying home alone especially after what happened in September period. It was nice having you there for the last few months." Kerri tried not to cry as she said this.

"I like it there. Sharpay and Chad's house is nice and the screaming has finally stopped. Don't worry they are not screaming at each other, just certain family members like Chad's mom and Coach Bolton. Chad and Sharpay are still as much in love as always. Things are just a little complicated right now." Kerri paused for a moment before figuring out how to continue.

"Okay, I guess first thing you should know is that Olivia and Isaac are going to have a couple of playmates in 6 to 9 months. No, Sharpay is not pregnant." She quickly clarified because even though Tiffany couldn't say anything, Kerri knew that would be her question otherwise.

"Kim's pregnant. According to a conversation I overheard outside the classroom, sometimes birth control doesn't work well with some people. Also sex in a hot tub can lead to a very, unplanned pregnancy." She laughed uncomfortably. It was enough to make Kerri glad that things never went beyond kissing and some inappropriate touching with Jimmy.

"Honestly, Mr. Bolton cannot be that mad at Troy because he did the same thing and technically, he is still married to someone else. Chad's mom is now very very pregnant." If Tiffany was not comatose her mouth would probably be a on the floor. Kerri knew that hers was when she heard the news. "Everyone found out during a very very awkward outburst at the baby coming out party. That also just happened to be the moment the dick responsible for the other half of my baby Cousins' genetic material showed up. Fortunately, he was promptly arrested." Which she didn't tell Tiffany, that he somehow made bail again and has not been seen since. Kerri personally hopes she never sees that man again.

"Chad was pissed. Part of the reason why I am helping out is because Chad and his mom really can't be in a room together right now without shouting and screaming. Considering the pregnancy hormones, you would think Caroline would be the one doing the shouting. Again, Chad is not very happy. The baby party was insane and not just because the news of the dead rabbits broke due to Chad hitting the open bar a little too much despite being underage."

Even though Tiffany was unconscious, Kerri did not want to trouble her with everything else yet. From what Kerri heard, it was almost as bad as the great Thanksgiving fiasco except the only people who ended up in police custody this time were Charles for violating his parole, crazy Lucy for the same thing, and one other jealous idiot. Also, Mr. Kim punched out Troy for getting his little girl pregnant again. He was not arrested only because the only person who wanted to press charges was his wife. Then there was Troy and Jack completely avoiding each other all weekend. Again, awkward.

Actually, the fact that everybody tried to act like they didn't know Kim and Caroline were pregnant was the most awkward part of the evening. That was probably worse than how everyone found out. No, her own personal drama was the most awkward, for her anyway. It involved a wonderful love square involving her, Jason C, Jimmy, and Marc. She would definitely be saving that for the end of this conversation.

"You probably should be glad that you are stuck sitting on those wonderful Egyptian cotton sheets that I know Sharpay got for you. It was a disaster. Also, I like your comforter." Kerri remarked uncomfortable as she played with the fringe of the comforter.

"I already told you about everybody finding out about the baby and you rack showing up unannounced at that very moment. Unfortunately, Troy wasn't the only one who had a very unwanted 'mother' show up. The woman who forced you to call her mom also arrived at the Garden with her lawyers. I don't know what happen. Sharpay will have to tell you when she comes by to visit. Maybe she already did."

Again, because she is 15 they are not telling her anything. Kerri is not stupid. She can put enough together from the mere fact Sharpay and Chad's legal team has been camped out in their brand new living room for days, that they are gearing up for a custody battle of epic proportions.

"You don't even want to know how much your babies made out with." Kerri started in hopes of a much happier topic of conversation. "Do know that they really do make gold crested rattles? Sharpay has some rich fake friends. They may not actually care but boy do they buy really good baby presents. I swear there was baby Prada in there. The best present came from Kim and Mr. Evans who combined their vast resources to give each baby a hefty trust fund. I don't know how much money was in there but Sharpay actually cried in public." Kerri said laughing.

"I figured it was best if I stop by now before auditions began for what we are currently referring to as That High School Musical. Once the play starts I'm going to be really busy and won't be coming by as much even though I really want to. Mom isn't home right now so it's not like I have anywhere else to be."

"Unfortunately, even the school musical is not free from complications. For the first time since the original Bush was vice president, East High will not be having a spring musical or drama department for that matter. I'm sure you're crushed." Kerri joked.

"Our favorite Puritan principal is essentially punishing the drama department for various crimes against his cozy little Disneyesque reality. It either has something to do with my almost sexual assault, Jimmy not being that heterosexual, or Kim and Troy obliterating his no teen pregnancies at East High reputation. Then again, he could just be doing this because of Chad and Sharpay's sexually charged epilogue to the fall production." Kerri said with a frown.

"Actually, I think Jack is the main recipient of his wrath in addition to the drama club. For all intensive purposes, principle stick up his ass fired Jack and hired one of his friends to take his place. Don't worry about the father to be again because every private school in the city wants him. The bad news is I probably won't be able to be on the basketball team next year because I'm pretty sure the new guy doesn't give a fuck about title IX. We'll have the last laugh still; Jimmy is transferring to St. Xavier next year on a full basketball scholarship. Apparently, they only care about his basketball skills. Because the transfer is motivated by certain idiots painting the F word on his car and being treated unfairly due to his sexual orientation at the state championship game, the state athletics board has ruled Jimmy is still eligible to play at the new school next year. Is it scary when a religious school is more tolerant than a secular one?" Kerri asked the unconscious body in front of her but received no reply.

"Xavier is trying to get Coach Bolton as well. I will be cheering the entire time no matter what. Actually, I may be a student there next year. Mr. Evans offered me an internship similar to what Amanda is doing this semester that includes full tuition to any private school in the County."

Kerri is sure Sharpay's responsible for this offer but it was probably just another way for the woman to show that she cares. It's nice to know someone does. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted to take the scholarship. Before the breakup she easily would have followed her boyfriend to the new school, especially considering how people were treating her at East high. She was still a pariah to certain parts of the student body. Actually, it was worse after east high lost the state championship. Apparently, the substitute coach's decision to not let Jimmy play was her fault. Despite being well hated, she was unsure if she wanted to leave Jackie behind when they were just getting their friendship back on track after everything. It was probably best for a subject change now. The situation was depressing enough already.

"If you were not completely unconscious you would probably be wondering how I'm going to be auditioning for a high school musical when it has been canceled by a certain principle who we all despised?" Kerri asked hypothetically with a sad smile half wishing for a response.

"Stupid rules and petty vendettas will not keep this production down. In revenge or maybe just in spite of principle you know who, we are still putting on the big high school musical at A of U. The best thing about that is we don't have to deal with the extreme censorship of a certain principal. Too bad we didn't do that last semester. I have to play you to the video of the play." She said as she moved a strand of hair from Tiffany's face.

"The auditions are a week from Monday at Evans hall. Hopefully, Jason M will have the scripts ready by then but I doubt it. Sharpay is being a little bit more hands off this time around because she has mommy duty. Everybody is shocked about that. Because of the incomplete script, we get to sing whatever song we want. I want to do something by Pink but I have no idea what yet." She actually paused for Tiffany to give a suggestion before she mentally reminded herself that none would be coming.

"I should probably do _Don't Let Me Get Me_ or possibly Stupid Girls. I know all the lyrics anyway." She chuckled at that. "It's going to be so much harder this year. Penelope somehow successfully manage to make the musical open to all students in the county which means members of the West High drama club will be auditioning. God help us all." She chuckled before figuring out what to say next.

"I know I only tried out last year because Jackie made me so I would forget about the whole almost getting raped at the welcome back dance but I really do want to be in the musical now. Just so you know it doesn't have anything to do with Jimmy. Being on stage is the only time I feel free from everything going on right now. Things are especially fucked up presently. I need an escape. You are in a coma, your 'mom' is doing god knows what to make the situation even more miserable, my mom is never home, and I broke up with Jimmy." She said that last part in a rush.

"No, I didn't break up with him because he was a bastard like the last boyfriend. It was mostly mutual or at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself. No, he never pressured me into doing anything I didn't want to do. Actually, there were few things I wanted to do but he wouldn't let me." A nervous laugh followed that.

"I know he didn't cheat on me unless you count still having feelings for his-whatever the hell Marc was to him. I could see it, even if jimmy could not. I'm not stupid. I knew what was coming and it was better to end it now without losing a friend. It's a long story, but hey I know you have the time." Kerri joked before she began.

* * *

**February 14 2009 7:33 PM**

"Do you think this party could get any more chaotic? They've already call the cops twice." Jackie said from the seat next to her. They were not the best friends they were before but things were getting better. They had no trouble hiding out from the insanity in the lobby together. Jason was there essentially to play buffer along with Sharpay's old roommate Amanda, who was hiding out from the guy who was her not-a-boyfriend. There's been too much craziness today for Kerri to even analyze that. Apparently, they were trying to prevent another fight from breaking out at this party. Good thing Sharpay's fake friends were good at looking the other way.

"I don't think this has reached the level of Thanksgiving yet. Nobody's been hospitalized." Amanda pointed out with a snicker.

"Yet." Both she and Jackie said simultaneously.

"Gabriella is taking her medications so everything should be fine. She's too busy playing buffer to freak out." Amanda said with a snicker pointing to Gabriella who was trying to get father and son to actually talk to each other. Considering they could hear raised voices, over here it was not going so well.

"I don't know, for a moment I really did think Mr. Kim broke Troy's nose." Jason added.

"I really wish Marc was here right now or Nikki for that matter. You three are just not as good at the snide comments." Amanda said with a pout.

"You could always go talk to Zeke if we are such bad company." Kerri said with a snicker. Sharpay told her all the best gossip on the many drives to see Tiffany after school. According to Sharpay, Amanda likes her former boyfriend but she is worried that he will make the same mistakes again. Kerri can't blame her. Part of her is just waiting for Jimmy to screw her over just like every man that has ever been a part of her life.

"See those are the type of comments that I was talking about. Just try not to make them about me." Amanda shot back.

"I'm still reeling from the not so good side of my family showing up. I'm essentially at something that is supposed to be a baby shower for my cousin who probably will never wake up. I don't feel like being snappy." Kerri remarked darkly. Everyone just looked at their hands awkwardly for a moment.

"I don't have anything. In an effort to be sensitive, I'm not going to mention that your BFF is with her boyfriend." Jackie said snidely causing everyone on the couch to give her a dirty look.

"I didn't mean anything by it." Jackie said apologetically.

"Yes, you did." Jason M mumbled under his breath.

"I thought you were over the fact that I'm dating Jimmy?" Kerri questioned.

"I'm over it." Jason and Amanda gave her a dark look. "I'm over it, really. However, I am your friend and it is my job to point out that your boyfriend is spending a lot of time with his ex. Please explain to me how I missed that?" Jackie said that last part referring to her being oblivious of Jimmy's preferences. Then again, Jackie wasn't there to see her crush followed Troy around like a lost puppy the last school year. She wondered if Troy knew that half the school thought that he was sleeping with Chad and assumed Gabriella was his cover.

"We're all fools in love." Amanda mumbled almost to herself.

"They really were not dating," Kerri said quickly. "Just making out a lot." She was blushing at the thought.

"According to Marc he felt Jimmy was too young for a serious relationship. That makes no sense because they're actually closer in age than Chad and Sharpay." Amanda added. Of course, Jimmy never told her the real reason why things never became serious between the two.

After that, witnessing her Cousin's disasters relationship blow up she wondered if maybe Marc was right about that. In her case, Jimmy was ready for something more serious and she was not. He knew even though everyone thought they were going steady they were essentially friends would make out privileges. There were some people in the world who found the love of their life at 15 like Mr. Troy Bolton but she doubted she would be one of them.

"What?" Kerri asked blinking back frustration.

"Like Jason, Marc skipped a few years. It was for the best. Our school was a little _intolerant_. Arizona has issues. That is the reason why the three of us decided to go to school out of state. A of U was the only school that offered all of us scholarships." Amanda clarified but that wasn't what Kerri wanted to have explained. Just then, they started to hear more arguing. She instantly recognize that one of the voices belong to Marc. Surprisingly enough, Jimmy wasn't following behind him. Actually, she was more alarmed at the fact that she thought it was strange her boyfriend wasn't with Marc.

"Can we talk about this later?" Jason C said looking nervous. If nobody at East high figured out his preferences before she doubted they would figure it out now.

"HELL NO! You cannot ignore me the entire time we're here and then send me a nasty text message because I'm spending too much time talking to my friends." Marc was screaming and Jason C seemed to have the sudden urge to run away.

"This is going to be ugly." Amanda mumbled to herself as Jason M nodded in agreement.

"We both know Jimmy is not just a friend." Marc's mouth opened in annoyance at that comment. Jackie was holding onto her wrist to keep her from punching out the former basketball player. Thanks to the self defense classes she has been taking since her almost rape she could so kick his ass. Nobody accuses her friends of doing stuff like that. It was at that moment she realized that one, she considered Marc a friend. Two, she also considered her boyfriend a friend.

"Just so you know not all non-heterosexuals sleep with each other. That's just a myth that heterosexuals came up with to justify their own prejudice. Besides, Jimmy has a girlfriend right now and unlike my own mother, I don't sleep around with other peoples significant others." It looks like Marc was getting ready to walk away before he hurt someone.

"Everybody knows she is just as cover." Marc looked ready to kill and Kerri was now being held down by both Jackie and Amanda.

"Considering there still writing the F word all over his locker, if she was his cover, she is not doing a very good job of it. Trust me, he really cares about her and he is with her because of that. Not everybody lives in glass closets like you." People were looking at the two now.

"I'm not gay." Jason C said defensively in a way that pretty much told everybody around that he really was. Marc was already walking away but his now former 'special friend' grabbed his hand.

"No, you are just MSM." Marc said with venom pulling away.

"MSM?" Jackie whispered for clarification.

"Men who have sex with men, not gay, it's like the down low." Jason said quickly getting strange looks from all three of them. "What? My mom is a gynecologist. Sometimes, I read her medical journals when I'm bored." For some reason that actually seemed plausible.

"Why didn't they skip you into college?" Amanda asked bluntly in near shock.

"My parents want me to have a somewhat normal high school experience." Jason M said but Kerri was too busy paying attention to the fight in front of her.

"Fuck you! Oh wait, you're afraid you will actually like that. I'm not sorry that I'm too much of a flaming queer for you. Call me when you get tired of living in your closet." With that, Marc was now sitting in the chair next to Amanda as an extremely angry Jason C left the room.

"Drink this, it spiked." Amanda said handing over what Kerri thought was an innocent glass of cola.

"You are not going to say I told you so? Because I am fully aware that 'dating' the closet case was a very bad idea." Marc said as he drank the offered drink in one go.

"Why should I, you're already doing it for me. I'm just surprised the blow up happened in public."

"I'm surprise he was willing to stand next to me in public. I need more alcohol." Marc said in pure bitterness. "Although, I couldn't let this go by." Marc said just before handing his cell phone to Amanda.

Now common sense would have told Kerri that she should not have looked at the cell phone. However, she rarely had common sense otherwise she probably wouldn't have almost ended up getting raped last September. Unfortunately, she saw the message below.

_Did you enjoy getting your hand job from your junior friend?_

"He was talking about my boyfriend?" Kerri asked out loud already knowing the truth.

"This is why you should not read other people's text messages." Amanda mumbled. "This is going to be bad."

"Nothing happened. Jimmy is your boyfriend." Kerri saw this look in his eyes that she could not ignore.

"I know, I trust you." She didn't say much more because the fourth fight of the night broke out. This time Jason C pushed her boyfriend through a glass window.

"So much for nobody ending up in the hospital." Jason M mumbled from beside her.

"If you really want to stay in the closet this isn't the type of behavior you should engage in." Marc said as he jumps up with her to break up the fight.

XXXX

"So any way after the police showed up and arrested Jason C for assaulting a minor, Jimmy and I got to spend the night at your old home away from home, AMC. According to Amanda, Zeke was so furious that he refused to get his now former best friend out of jail. I personally think he's trying to get bonus points but I'm currently in an all men are asses phase." She said with a bitter laugh before continuing.

"Fortunately, Jimmy didn't break anything but he did end up with lots of stitches. The fact that Marc spent the entire ride to the hospital fussing over my boyfriend and apologizing pretty much told me it was time to end things." Kerri said honestly.

"So that's why you broke up with me in the ER?" Kerri heard a voice say from the doorway. She was shocked to hear.

"There were lots of reasons. Although jealousy was not one of those reasons. It was more like Marc saw you as a lover and I saw you as a friend. What are you doing here Jimmy?" She asked secretly glad that she was not alone anymore.

"Jackie told me where you were going. I thought you could use the support." He said pointing to the pile of tear stained tissues on Tiffany's bed. Kerri had no idea how much crying she has done in this room this afternoon. "You said you wanted us to still be friends. I would have driven you here if you asked." From his voice, she could tell he was being sincere.

"I just wanted to be alone for a moment. I'm not in a place where I can be with someone right now and that wasn't fair to you when you have other options. We are better at being friends. I think that I only kissed you back because I wanted to prove to myself that not all men are ass holes." Kerri said honestly, as she got up from the couch and threw away her tear stained tissues.

"Did I succeed?" Jimmy questioned.

"Mostly." She said grabbing her purse not making eye contact.

"You don't have to leave now." He said awkwardly.

"I think I need to." She said just before bending over and kissing Tiffany on the forehead. "I love you." She whispered as tears started to fall. By the time she actually stepped out of the room, she was moments from collapsing. Thankfully she was not alone.

"It's okay." He whispered to her as she continued crying.

"Nothing is okay. This is why I can't do our relationship right now. I'm too fucked up on the inside." She was sobbing harder with every word.

"Things will get better." He said kissing her on the forehead. She pulled away from him after that.

"See this is why nobody knows that we're not together anymore. We have to be the most amicable former couple in history." She said as they started to walk out the door.

"No, I think that title goes to Troy and Gabriella. She bought Troy's fiancée a congratulations you are pregnant card." Kerri actually laugh that that. At least, she wasn't crying anymore.

"There setting a new standard for former couples everywhere." Kerri said with a sad smile.

"So what's going on with you and Marc?" She was expecting Jim me to say nothing but instead she got something honest, even if she wasn't sure that she wanted to hear it.

"It's complicated." He said with a sigh as they walked out into the snowy mess that was Albuquerque winter. It was already dark outside making her grateful for a ride home.

"Isn't it always?" She said with a shrug. "Just don't figure it out before prom. You are still taking me."

"I could take both of you." Jimmy said with a smug look.

"That would give Principal Dave a heart attack." She replied almost laughing.

"That's the point."

To be continued.


	42. What One Will Do for Ones Children

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. So far, I have kept my promise to keep the updates coming. The last couple of chapters were B list character heavy so I could wrap up their plots and move onto the big show. I think many of you will be happy with this chapter.

**Chapter 42: What One Will Do for Ones Children**

* * *

It was Monday and Chad was just happy that spring was starting to return to Albuquerque, just in time for midterms and spring break. Their original plan for an international getaway was on hold for the immediate future for Olivia and Isaac's sake. There was too much to do with the babies and the insanity that has become his life. The only thing Chad was looking forward to next week was catching up on his sleep. Now all he had to do was survived midterms and things would be okay.

Normally, he wouldn't be worried. In high school he could sleep through half of his classes and still get straight A's, in his actual high school classes anyway. In college classes, he actually had to apply himself a little. This semester a few of his classes such as Women's Studies and Acting were out of his comfort zone. It definitely did not help that he missed too many classes due to family drama and teenage parenthood. Right now, Chad seriously wished that he didn't miss classes to go to DC for the inauguration because he needed those days now. (That regret is mostly fueled by the fact that his mom probably got pregnant during that trip and her subsequently walking in on him and Sharpay doing certain 'things'.)

Physics oddly enough is the easiest, if he was actually rested enough to pay attention. He blames that on 2 AM feedings. It probably helped that he is reviewing all the material with Kim in between her many trips to the bathroom after class. Apparently, Ms. Bolton is one of those that experiences morning sickness later in her pregnancy. Troy so owes him for dealing with his very nauseous girlfriend and her crazy cravings. The intense teasing that Troy suffered when Chad picked him, Gabriella, and Alex up for the baby coming out party was not nearly enough. (It felt strange that Gabriella joined in on the teasing too. He assumed that was a sign that things were getting better between the two.)

Calculus was just as easy, despite sleep deprivation, because he was doing review work with several of his friends. He was also trying to help Sharpay with her economics homework (during the Twins naptime). They couldn't exactly use the same reward system as last semester because they were surrounded by babies, but they managed. Although, things were slightly better with his mom during the last few days, he doubted that he could talk her into babysitting so he and Sharpay could 'study' privately. They now have a nanny for during the school day, but everything else is there responsibility.

Organic chemistry was also going well but that is probably because he has been doing most of his studying for the class around doctors and nurses usually in the cafeteria at AMC or by Tiffany's bedside. At least they give him tips between reminiscing about how much they hated the class. Chad has discovered that hospitals (and rehabilitation centers) can be very conducive to studying. One of Tiffany's doctors, who happen to be the husband of her favorite professor, was trying to convince Chad to switch to premed. Considering the amount of research he has been doing on reproductive health issues and brain injuries, that seems slightly more interesting than computer science presently. Of course, Chad wasn't really thinking about anything beyond getting through the next few weeks or the next diaper change for that matter.

Women's studies and Intro to Acting were the difficult classes this semester and that was before parenthood. This is what Chad chooses to complain about during today's visit with Tiffany. He tried to see her at least once a week now that she was moved into the rehabilitation center. The last week he spent a lot of time here while Sharpay was auditioning the kiddies for the new play. It was quiet and the babies are with Sharpay sitting in a stroller most likely napping as she terrorized teenagers. (She doesn't believe in having kids raised by the nanny even if they have one.)

Two weeks ago, he stopped by to tell Tiffany what he remembered about the baby coming out party. During the 5 minutes, he walked out to get a soda, Kerri stopped by for a heart to heart with her cousin. Chad was going to join her before he realized that Kerri needed that time. So maybe he listened to everything from the safety of the nurses' station, it's not his fault his fiancée was rubbing off on him.

He learned several things such as the fact that Kerri's mom was never around and that Kerri broke up with Jimmy. At least it wasn't a dramatic explosion of a breakup but it was still a breakup. He was trying to make things better by letting Kerri's stay over at the condo as much as possible by essentially convincing her to move in. Although, the most important thing he learned last week was the unconscious were great listeners.

"I have no idea why I let my girlfriend talk me into taking either of those fucking classes. If my perfect GPA goes to hell, it will be her fault." Chad practically screamed at Tiffany's perfectly still body. Like Kerri, Chad actually found talking to Tiffany much more cathartic than talking to his therapist. At least Tiffany doesn't make snide comments or try to get more out of Chad by asking silly questions.

"There are many reasons why I despise Women's Studies; the number one reason involves the mystery hat of random assignments. I hate that thing. I don't know who got screwed over more for midterms me or Sharpay. Every student has to write a five page research paper on the subject pulled a randomly out of the hat of perpetual torment, relating to a major issue affecting women today. My research topic is domestic violence. Sharpay got sexual assault." Chad sped out bitterly. He honestly wonders if he can take pictures of Tiffany's body and get an easy A. It would be best if he just wrote about the whole thing instead.

"If it wasn't for the fact that Penelope got stuck with abusive relationships and Zeke ended up with cheating, I would think this was one big conspiracy on the part of my evil professor. This isn't the first time that the evil hat has done wrong in that class but this is the first time that the paper has been so involved." He then spent a few minutes talking to Tiffany about the research that he has done. He was surprised how many of the same web sites he used for information about sexual assault could be used.

He doesn't tell her about the very honest conversation that he has with his mother the day before. Using his assignment as a means to actually talk to her again, he asked her if Charles ever hit her. (He cannot even think of Charles Danforth as his father anymore. Actually, he thinks of Jack as his father but he was still furious at him.)

Apparently, Charles did a lot of nasty things to his mother during the course of their marriage but hitting her was not one of them. He cheated on her with various girls who were barely old enough to buy cigarettes but he did not hit his wife. He also refused to do anything in the house at all. Chad is not surprise by this because he was the one who kept their house in order post divorce.

That was the first real conversation he has had with his mother in close to almost a month after fainting when he heard about the pregnancy. As soon as he regained consciousness that night, Chad was furious enough to cause a shouting match at the Bolton house, though, he wasn't sure why.

The major point of irritation mentioned over and over again was 'you got my mom pregnant before you divorced Troy's mom'. He didn't say it in that whiny of a voice but Sharpay argued otherwise. Considering what he did to Taylor last year he was being a hypocrite with that point, but he didn't care.

Was he mad about losing his only child status? Technically, he is no longer an only child, but for all intensive purposes, he considered Isaac and Olivia his children. He has changed enough diapers to make that so. Maybe he's upset about that but that doesn't make sense. He was furious with his father when he found out about the Tiffany situation, but this was different. Charles got Tiffany pregnant because he was reckless. Jack and his mother were the victims of defective condoms and drug Interactions. He really can't be that upset because both parties were extremely cautious. It was not their fault that they purchased counterfeit condoms. If it was not for Sharpay's slightly damaged uterus, they would probably be just as fucked. (Chad really wants to forget about the recent visits to the specialist that confirmed that if he and Sharpay want to have biological kids there going to need fertility treatments and a miracle.)

"After a few weeks, I am still upset about the situation but I do not understand why. Sharpay has dragged me to therapy numerous times but little progress has been made." His favorite mental health professional suggested that Chad was angry because he was worried about having to share his mother's love and attention with a new baby, stepfather, and Troy. Chad does not believe her because even though he's pissed at Jack he still would rather have him as his father. Maybe he'll talk to Tiffany about it later.

"We probably could have got a change of assignment if we asked but for the first time in her life, Sharpay refuses to accept special treatment." Chad laughs at that. The fact that Sharpay was not taking advantage of being Sharpay Evans seems very strange. She has always manipulated things. Maybe Sharpay was actually growing up.

"The other hard class this semester is Intro to Acting. Even though I have been in one school play, I assume that this would be an easy class. Okay, I actually signed up for this class because Sharpay gave me a BJ. However, I actually like getting up in front of a group of people and not having to be myself. I just can't stand my acting partners and they are my friends, sometimes. I can't deal with the inner personal drama. I already have enough family drama, I don't need anything else." That was the understatement of the year.

"The midterm would not be so bad except I have to do a scene with my fiancée's ex boyfriend, the girl that he is chasing after, and the girl he completely screwed over. I am the youngest one in the room and I am the only one not being a whiny brat. I'm just glad Penelope and Zeke are mostly on speaking terms." Penelope somehow talked Zeke into helping her with the play by being her tutor regarding East High culture. Apparently, Zeke saw helping Penelope as penance. Chad was the only one who knew that Sharpay was having Penelope do most of the work on the play to help her forget about Richard's upcoming trial and testifying.

"Things with Zeke and Amanda are still as insane as ever. We cannot get through a rehearsal without extreme amounts of screaming or throwing things. Zeke is now upset that despite choosing Marc over his best friend, Amanda has decided to go out with Chris from our drama class." Chad puts his head in his hands as he told Tiffany that.

"I was honestly hoping that things would be better after Zeke stood up to Jason, but that's not happening. It does not help that Amanda is in complete run away mode, which explains her trying to date a guy that she really doesn't like." He told Tiffany about the entire baby party a couple weeks ago. Chad still could not believe that Zeke refused to bail Jason C out. Unfortunately, that meant he called Chad but that was another story. He was just sober enough at that point to ask his lawyer to take care of it the next morning. He really did not remember much about the party because everybody kept spiking his drink to prevent him from freaking out. It didn't help. Sharpay, Amanda, Kim, and several others kept giving him caffeine free coke laced with Jack Daniel's. Instead of avoiding a blowup, he ends up spilling the news about both his mothers and Kim's pregnancies. At that moment, Charles decided to crash the party. It took two security guards to get him off of Jack. Not good.

Did he mention that Mr. Evans invited several of his business associates including Mr. Kim to celebrate the social coming out of his 'grandchildren'? Chad was shocked that Troy was still talking to him after spilling everything to a very angry father. Mr. Kim waited just long enough for the police to leave before he attacked Troy for getting his little girl pregnant, again. At that point, Mr. Evans escorted Chad to one of the rooms upstairs to sleep it off.

He didn't get to because Tiffany's mom showed up with her lawyers. For reasons unknown, she was suing for custody of the babies. His mom managed to secure an emergency ruling to keep the babies with him and Sharpay but there would be another hearing right after spring break was over. They were currently in battle mode preparing for an extreme custody fight. All the time with the lawyers was another reason why Chad was worried about having enough time to study this semester. He really didn't need another thing to distract him.

Actually maybe the drama with Zeke and Amanda was a good thing. It gave him something to laugh at.

"The entire fiasco reminded me of when Sharpay tried to date someone else last September because she was trying not to think about the feelings that were starting to develop between the two of us. Amanda's date Friday was a complete disaster. Though Amanda refuses to admit that she talked about Zeke the entire date. I know she did. Chris told me. Her date ended the exact same way but Amanda will not tell anyone that, especially Zeke. I only know because she called me to pick her up." He said with another sigh.

"Do you think people can change?" Chad asked Tiffany from nowhere.

"I know Sharpay is not the person that I thought she was in high school but I think that has more to do it with the fact that the person I saw in high school was not real. I know that Amanda likes Zeke and I know that he likes her too. I'm worried that he is going to do what he did last time. Amanda is my friend and I don't want to see her get hurt. Charles never changed. If he did, you probably wouldn't be in a coma right now." He joked but it fell flat.

"Penelope and I are so tired of the fighting between the two, that we are considering doing another scene just to force the two to kiss and makeup literally. The thing is, I don't know if I want to encourage the relationship. I don't want to see my friends get hurt. Honestly, I just want the games to end." Chad said with a roll of his eyes.

"You probably don't want to hear more about the stupid things people do in college. I could read you a chapter from my organic chemistry book but you probably already heard all the information. I went through a lot of your old textbooks the other day when I helped pack up your stuff. We decided it was better to move everything over to the condo since we have more room."

Actually, the real reason why they packed everything out was it was unanimously decided after what Chad over heard last week that Kerri would move in with him and Sharpay for a little while. Of course, no one knew why Chad was so insistent on it.

"Even though I have lots of classes to study for, I have been flipping through your books. I find a lot of the premed stuff interesting, although I never really thought about it before. I have to meet with my adviser to discuss classes for next semester soon. I'm not even sure I'm going to be at this school next semester. It probably will be better if we stick around for a little while."

The custody issues may make it all a moot point. They may be stuck here for a while if the judge orders it. If it means keeping Olivier and Isaac safe, Chad would be willing to give up his Ivy League education.

"Actually, I'm not even sure what I'm going to be majoring in next semester." He told Tiffany honestly.

"The only reason why I started out in computer science was I like video games and computer classes seemed easy. I made that decision at a time when I hated myself for being smart. I don't feel that way now Steve Jobs is my secret idol. I want to create the next big thing I'm just not sure what that will be." He said with a half smile. Chad enjoyed being known for his mental skills now. He didn't feel shame anymore about being gifted. Some of the coolest people in the world were nerds. Life would be miserable without Facebook, Windows, and the iPod.

"I have recently discovered that I like science beyond computers. I like doing research and discovering things. Medical research is interesting, although, I don't think I want to be a doctor. That is more your thing." He said almost sadly knowing that her dream of becoming a doctor probably wasn't going to happen now if she ever woke up.

"I guess I should probably mention this to my advisor." He said quickly before deciding to change the subject. If Tiffany could really hear him, he doubted she wanted to hear him whine about what he should change his major to.

"My academic life is completely insane but things at home are good." Chad said redirecting the conversation. "Sharpay and I have successfully 'christened' every room in the apartment." Chad said smirking. "Sex is much more fun in the shower when it's actually your shower and you don't have to worry about your best friend's girlfriend walking in on you." Chad joked remembering a particular humiliating answer that involving Kim walking in on them because she needed to pee.

"Things with mom are to a complicated as I mentioned earlier. I know your cousin told you that I'm getting a new brother sister next fall thanks to a couple of morons who decided to make a quick buck with counterfeit condoms. Seriously what type of person makes counterfeit condoms?" Chad angrily asked his unconscious—actually Chad wasn't sure what Tiffany was to him. She was family that was for sure. Beyond that, it was complicated.

"I have this feeling that those defective condoms were probably what Charles got last April. I have not seen the bastard formally known as my father since the party. That was weeks ago. That would be a good thing except he missed his next hearing last week. I have no idea how he even made bail again. As long as he stays the hell out of Albuquerque, I really don't care where he is." Chad said with pure venom.

"Anyway back to the new baby." Chad said as he took a deep breath to calm himself down and push all thoughts of the sperm donor out of his mind. "I will admit that I'm not happy. You heard about what happened at the baby party and the fainting. At least, I'm not anywhere near as insane as Lucy with my reaction. She is sending my mom death threats despite the restraining order. She's back in jail for the moment that everyone, especially Sharpay's father is being paranoid about the whole situation. Currently we all have bodyguards following us around. My bodyguard's name is Jose; he is sitting outside with the nurses." Personally, he didn't want such protection but Sharpay, Kim, Mr. Evans and his mom of overruled him. Everyone was worried about Charles and Lucy doing something stupid.

"I realize that there are some good parts to my mom being pregnant. Olivia and Isaac will have a playmate. Sharpay will have another baby to spoil rotten. She loves shopping for baby things little too much. Considering there is a good chance we will never get to do that without the use of a gestational carrier or in Vitro, its best for me to let her get it out of her system now. Sharpay is a little depressed about the fact that she has 'uterus issues' and planning for the babies my mom and Kim are carrying is the only thing that is cheering her up." That was an understatement but he and Sharpay have agreed not to address the fertility issues until they actually wanted to start having a family.

"Despite the good stuff I'm not happy. Okay, I fainted from the shock and according to Sharpay I am behaving worse than Alex. He doesn't know about the new baby yet but Sharpay's sure that he will react better than I am. My fiancé and my therapists believe I'm angry about the whole thing because I don't want to share my mom's attention way of other people." Okay so maybe in the past he freaked out every time Troy paid more attention to someone else, but he was getting better. He's not jealous of Kim the way he was jealous of Gabriella.

"That is so not true. I mean when I was little I have this fantasy of my mom running away with her best friend to start a new family. Even subconsciously, I've always known that my mom and Jack had a connection that they did not have with their respective spouses. Although, I wanted that to happen mostly because I really did want Troy to be my brother and even then I knew Lucy was a bad person." Chad paused for a moment deciding how to break into the next part of the conversation.

"My happy family fantasy did not include kids closer in age to my children than me. Of course, as you know biological children may not be in the cards. That is okay because I have learned from Charles that blood means nothing. I really do love Olivier and Isaac and not just because they are my biological brother and sister. Do not take this as a sign that I don't want you to wake up because I really do, but I'm starting to think of Olivia and Isaac as mine. If you don't wake up, just know that there are two people in the world that love your babies more than anything else." Chad said as he wrapped his fingers around Tiffany's to give her hand a squeeze.

"I will fight with every fiber in my being to keep them safe from everything including your mom or I guess I should say stepmom." Chad said with shaky breath as he proceeded to give Tiffany an update on the very complicated custody situation.

* * *

Caroline Sanchez soon to be Bolton knew the law. Her father was a cop and her mother was a paralegal. Caroline spent a decade as a lawyer in addition to her time as a paralegal and a social worker. Her two areas of specialty are civil rights and family law. Most lawyers didn't have two specializations but most lawyers didn't have her life.

Both specializations came in handy in the last month. Helping to improve diversity practices at Evans worldwide between bouts of nausea was definitely helped by her time in DC working at the nonprofit. Her background in that area was how she got the job in the first place (nepotism aside).

She was originally planning to keep her pregnancy quiet for the first few months until things were more stable and Lucy signed the damn papers. (Being pregnant by a technically married man would give her subordinates many reasons to disrespect her.) She knew she couldn't be fired for being pregnant; it was just her irrational fear taking over again.

Unfortunately, her son was dating her boss' daughter and it was always harder to keep secrets from family. She blames herself for suggesting that Jack give Chad alcohol laced Coca-Cola to get him to mellow out at the baby shower for Olivia and Isaac. She was hoping to avoid the screaming that occurred after Chad regained consciousness the night he found out about the pregnancy. Instead, the alcohol probably resulted in such an encounter because unlike his father Chad has a low alcohol tolerance. Unfortunately, Vince and half the board of directors were present for the entire thing including Mr. Kim. Really she couldn't be angry at Chad because Vince probably would've found out eventually by other means, like crazy Lucy crashing the party an hour later or Jack and Troy's colorful arguing.

Actually, Mr. Evans was okay with the entire thing. He even mentioned that the company was considering allowing new mothers and fathers to bring their children to work for the first 18 months after hearing how cost effective it was for another company. Okay, Vince is really happy that Sharpay was not the one that was pregnant. He may treat Olivia and Isaac like his grandkids but that doesn't mean he actually wants biological grandkids any time soon, even if it is highly unlikely that he will live long enough to see them. (Vince has no idea that said grandchildren will most likely have to come from Ryan. Caroline does not think it is her place to tell him. Sharpay will tell her father when she is ready.)

Caroline's background in family law was coming into play mostly in her personal life. Fortunately, for both Jack and Vince Evans she knew every good divorce attorney license to practice in the state of New Mexico. Both men needed it. She wasn't sure who had the crazier future ex-wife, Lucy who follows her across the country and sends out thinly veiled death threats or Darby who has psychologically tortured her children by any means necessary.

If there is one thing Caroline knows it is abuse and she easily recognizes it in Sharpay Evans. It was obvious by the way the young girl pushed everyone away. Caroline never believed Sharpay's excuses for constantly being covered in cuts and bruises. There is also the fact that when Darby's bother shows up for parent teacher meeting, she always looked at her a daughter with pure disdain when she assumes no one was looking.

Compared to everything else, the situation with Lucy was surprisingly simple. After showing up to the baby party and threatening to kick Caroline in the stomach until she had a miscarriage, in front of two lawyers and a judge, her bail was promptly revoked. Lucy's lawyers were trying to reverse that decision, claiming that the incident was triggered by Lucy being off her medication. Apparently, what Jack thought was Lucy's daily vitamin was really a cocktail of various anti depressants and anti psychotics that Lucy has been taking since her college days. Jack had no idea.

Because of threatening violence, along with other dangerous behavior, Jack could now divorce Lucy even though she refuses to sign the papers. With any luck, Jack will be free of Lucy before Caroline goes into labor. She really hopes so. Her mom was not happy about the situation at all and the divorce may pacify her. Actually, Mr. Kim was handling Kim's pregnancy better her mother was handling her pregnancy .

The situation with the soon to be former Mrs. Evans was much worse. Darby was currently sleeping her way through every 20 to 30 year old in the state as she spread vicious lies about her family to anyone that will listen. Even though Vincent could easily make public the fact that Darby beat the hell out of her daughter for years, he wouldn't do it for Sharpay's sake even if the allegations were already showing up from time to time. Apparently, others besides Caroline were suspicious that Sharpay was being abused when she was a child.

The real point of contention in Evans vs. Evans, was the trust fund for Sharpay and Ryan. Even without the shares of the Evans Corporation the fund was worth $34,670,000. Despite being offered half of his stock in the company and the country club, Darby refuses to relinquish control over the fund. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem barring some unexpected catastrophe such as getting run over by a car during his morning jog.

Unfortunately, these are not the usual circumstances because Vince Evans was dying; stage three, heart failure. The stress of finding out that your wife of over two decades was sleeping around with half the city along with terrorizing your two children was not doing him any favors. To keep investors from panicking, the precarious state of his health was a closely guarded secret only known to three people outside of his medical team.

The move of operations to New York was just a cover so it would be easier for him to receive necessary medical treatment. Being sick was the real reason he stepped down from the Board of Governors at A of U. The stress was too much for him. The incident with Chad and the NCAA was a good excuse for leaving that no one would question. Vince was also using Sharpay having custody of Olivia and Isaac as an explanation of why he was spending less time at work. The truth was things have progressed to the point where Vince is a candidate for a heart transplant.

Neither Sharpay nor Ryan really knew what was going on. Mr. Kim who was being groomed as Vince's successor has known from the beginning. Caroline was the third person who was brought into his confidence mere weeks ago after she accepted the job offer. She was suspicious before then because she picked up on signs such as how eagerly Vince was willing to go with her plans to make sure Chad and Sharpay were ready for the real world. He was putting things in order such as buying Sharpay a condo and Ryan a townhouse. Even her hiring was part of his preparations for the future. All of this was an obvious sign that he was sure he would not be here much longer.

Unfortunately, Darby was the third person that knew how sick her soon to be former husband really was. That is why she was holding on so hard to her control of the trust. Caroline knows that the woman would make both her children miserable as soon as she had the chance. That could be the only logical explanation as to why Darby was helping Tiffany's moms legal team with trying to get custody of Olivia and Isaac. She knew that Sharpay losing her children would hurt her more than anything else.

According to Vince, Darby and the former Mrs. Jackson were old country club friends. According to the private investigator, Darby was feeding the other legal team anything that could be used against Chad and Sharpay. The possible instability of Sharpay's finances and Mr. Evans' health would most likely be brought up at the hearing in April.

It wasn't like the other side needed help to sway the courts in their favor; the fact that Chad was 18 and Sharpay was 19 would make things difficult enough. Caroline was sure the fact that they were not married but merely cohabitating together will be mentioned and will be damning to the case.

She was extremely thankful that both she and Vanessa successfully talked Tiffany into a durable power of attorney and having official custody papers drawn up for Chad and Sharpay. At least Tiffany's mother or aunt couldn't pull the plug. Those custody papers were probably what kept the woman from receiving emergency custody of the twins in the first place.

Even though her son was still mad at her for reasons unknown, Caroline was going to make sure that he wouldn't lose custody of Olivia and Isaac without a fight. She promised Sharpay that. This is why she and Sharpay's father were currently in a meeting with the best child custody lawyer in the state, Caroline's old professor Marisol Vasquez. She also just became the fourth person to know how ill Vince really was.

"I'm not going to lie to you, this woman and her lawyers are vicious. I am pretty sure rumors about the real reason why Vince resigned from A of U will be part of her campaign to get her grandkids. She's probably going to use your precarious situation with Mr. Bolton as well." Marisol said bluntly.

"What do you mean by that?" Caroline questioned.

"Her lawyers will attack everybody's character including yours Caroline. They're going to try to make you look unfit. You're the one helping Chad and Sharpay the most." That was still true despite the uneasiness over the last month. Things were getting slightly better but her relationship with Chad was not what it was. She didn't mention that as Marisol continued. "Other than the fact that you're pregnant by a guy who is still technically married, you have someone actively trying to kill you. Things like that will make the judge weary."

"She's currently in jail without bail." Caroline responded.

"That can change." Marisol pointed out a truth she did not want to knowledge.

"That is why I hired bodyguards for Chad and Sharpay, as well as, Caroline." Mr. Evans shot back. "What can we do to increase the likelihood that Chad and Sharpay can retain custody of Olivia and Isaac?" Vince asked finally getting to the true purpose of this meeting.

"One would be proving why Tiffany did not want her adopted mother to have custody of her children. Were there any allegations of abuse or neglect?" Marisol asked.

"Her Cousin Kerri hinted at their being some problems with their relationship but mentioned nothing specific to me. When she talked to me and Vanessa Kim about granting custody of the children to Chad and Sharpay, in the event of her incapacitation, she was adamant about her adopted mother not being allowed anywhere near her children. She never explained why." Caroline mentioned.

"We will have to interview the family anyway. That is something we can add to the list of questions. Is there anything else?" Marisol inquired.

"Maybe the diary?" Caroline wondered aloud thinking of Tiffany's possessions that are now being stored at Sharpay's house.

"What diary?" Marisol asked was slight puzzlement.

"It was with the things of Tiffany's that Chad and Sharpay brought over to the condo. Actually, it's a collection of multiple diaries that looks like it dates back to when Tiffany was in elementary school. I didn't read what was in there but it's possible that something could be there." It was the closest they had to Tiffany's own thoughts on the situation.

"They will have to be authenticated but it might be usable considering the circumstances." Marisol said musing to herself."The most important thing we have to prove is that Chad and Sharpay can provide a stable home environment. You told me that they hired a nanny."

"She was Sharpay and Ryan's nanny until she got pregnant with her son Jimmy." Mr. Evans supplied.

"Are they going to consider outside help a good or bad thing?" Caroline asked seeing the circumstances could be used both ways before.

"It depends on the judge but, it should be seen as favorable. Both Chad and Sharpay are full-time students and I am sure the other side would be hiring help as well." Caroline wanted to snicker at that. She does not see Tiffany's mom as the type a woman who would change diapers.

"Chad and Sharpay have a good home field with everything the children need. I have been to the condo myself and considering they're two college students with Twins, I am surprised I can get through without tripping over toys or dirty diapers. Anybody that spends 5 minutes with the two, know that they love those babies very much. Age may not be too much of a problem because I'm sure the other side would be afraid that we would make it a problem because we can turn it around. Some may argue that a 19 year old is better suited to take care of small children then a woman in her fifties. Honestly, the biggest problem is going to be the fact that Chad and Sharpay are not married." Marisol said roughly.

"You have got to be kidding." Caroline mumbled under her breath. "It's 2009, the definition of family is changing."

"This is a red state. Traditional marriage is still a big deal. I mean they are already engaged, would it really be that difficult to go through the legal motions now? They could still have the big wedding later, if that is the only reason why there waiting. Being married would definitely help their chances of retaining custody." From a legal perspective, Caroline knew that what Marisol said was true but it still made her angry. Vince response was to laugh.

"They are not waiting for the sake of a big wedding." Vince said between laughs. "If Sharpay had her way, they would have flown off to Vegas the moment Chad was legal. She doesn't really care about the large wedding."

"Then why are they still waiting? I mean we wouldn't even have to worry about the trust fund problem that you told me about if they were married. Sharpay would become sole trustee upon your death until Ryan was of age. That would seriously make things a lot easier." Vince's response to Marisol's question was to point at Caroline.

"What? I just didn't want them to rush into things." She said defensively.

"I think it's a little too late for that. They're raising kids together and nothing ties you together more than children. If they are only waiting because you're not ready to give your little boy away then you need to get over it." With that her former professor excused herself for another appointment.

"You think she's right?" Caroline asked her boss and her son's future father in law."

"Perhaps, if it was just infatuation Chad and Sharpay would have parted from each other long ago. Instead, their relationship has become stronger." She knew he had a point.

"They are so young." Caroline whispered to herself.

"I was 31 when I married Darby, yet we are still divorcing. Age does not always make for wise decisions." She laughed at that. Wasn't that the truth? She still ended up accidentally pregnant again almost 19 years after it happened the first time, again due to defective condoms. At least this time it was by a better person.

"You may have a point there." She said grudgingly as she took one last drink of her ginger ale. It was one of the few things that came out of the 'morning' sickness.

"Honestly, I just want to walk Sharpay down the aisle. If it doesn't happen soon, it's not going to happen." He said not looking at her.

"You don't know that." Caroline said emphatically.

"I don't have much time left. It would be easier to leave everything behind if I knew that Ryan and Sharpay would be okay." There was something unspoken in his words. It was more than a typical worry that most parents had.

"When are you going to tell Ryan and Sharpay?" Caroline questions.

"This summer, I want both of them to just get through this year." Vince said picking up his briefcase. I have a 4:00 PM to get to." He said as an excuse to leave.

"Go on. I already think of Sharpay as my daughter. I promise to look after her, Ryan to for that matter." She said and reassurance.

"Thank you."

The moment was broken by Caroline making a dash for the executive washroom. Apparently, the new baby enjoyed making her be sick at the worst times. Although, being ill gave her time to think about what was said. Was she being selfish or overly cautious? Chad and Sharpay were not her and Charles. They were not rushing into this blindly. Chad appreciated Sharpay not just for who she was presently but everything she could become. They have the type of relationship that would evolve overtime. They challenged each other to be more and try new things. Caroline sincerely doubted that Sharpay would be taking writing classes this semester without Chad's influence. Caroline knew there was genuine talent there after listening to the original bedtime stories that Sharpay tells to Alex and the twins whenever she gets a chance.

Caroline also knew that Sharpay was the one that got Chad to accept his intelligence in a way Caroline never could. Sharpay was also slowly trying to get Chad and Caroline to repair the rift between mother and son that occurred because of the pregnancy. She was sure Sharpay was the one that suggested Chad talk to her for his report on domestic violence. It was an opening that she would gladly take.

Maybe she was afraid that once Sharpay became Chad's wife there would not be a place for Caroline in his life anymore. She knew from personal experience that her own relationship with her parents deteriorated after her marriage to Charles. That was probably more due in part to the fact that they forced her to marry Charles in the first place.

After her new assistant brought her ginger ale and mouthwash, Caroline decided it was best to leave for the day. She didn't have any other appointments because she had no idea how long the consultation with the lawyer would actually take. She thought about going to see Jack but he was busy after school at A of U trying to provide the adult supervision for A Very High School Musical. He sent her a picture of Sharpay on stage with both babies strapped to her as she provided stage instructions. That reminded her of a scene from the film _Three__Men__and__a__Baby_. Unlike herself, having children young wasn't going to stop Sharpay from becoming the person she wanted to be.

After 30 minutes of driving and a quick stop to throw up and get more ginger ale, Caroline found herself in the parking lot of the Albuquerque rehabilitation center. Visiting Tiffany always made her feel a combination of guilt and sadness. Instead of running away after catching her husband screwing an extremely young Tiffany, she should have pulled the young girl aside and tell her about the type of man Charles really was. Maybe then, a 21 year old wouldn't be lying comatose in a rehab center with little hope of ever regaining consciousness. The only good thing to come out of the situation was she had grand babies to spoil.

Caroline was not sure why she came here except maybe to talk to one of the people responsible for the decision that she needed to make now. She knew Tiffany could not respond but she always felt better are after talking to her. It always made the guilt less overwhelming.

She knew that her original plan would not happen as soon as Caroline saw Jose, Chad's bodyguard, sitting at the nurse's station drinking a cup of coffee. She didn't interrupt Chad's conversation with Tiffany. At least she now understood why things had been so tense between the two the last few weeks even if Chad was still in denial about that being the case. She should have known better because this was exactly how Chad behaved every time Troy got a brand new friend or a girlfriend. Maybe it was because she missed the worst of it last year when Chad had freaked out over Troy going to Berkeley, but she should have realized what was happening immediately. Chad was afraid of being left behind so he pushed everyone away before they could do the same to him. It was a defense mechanism that her son developed long ago. She is surprised that she didn't figure it out earlier.

Chad was worried that with a new baby and husband in the works she wouldn't have time for him. That was completely ridiculous, except maybe that was her fear too. She was afraid that if Chad created a new life with Sharpay he would not have time for her. Considering how many times he called her about baby related questions in the last month, even though he was supposedly mad at her, should prove to both that was not going to happen.

Caroline made her presence known after Chad told Tiffany about the most recent developments and the custody situation. That was the first time she knew how terrified Chad really was of losing Olivier and Isaac. That was when she knew she had to let Chad and Sharpay do everything possible to keep the babies.

"I didn't think you would be here." Caroline said alerting Chad to her presence.

"I could say the same for you." Chad said not looking back.

"I thought I would check on Tiffany. I didn't have any more meetings this afternoon and Jack is going to be busy with high school thespians until at least seven." She said sitting in one of the comfy couches that Sharpay added to the room.

"Zeke told me that Jack is running the rehearsals like basketball practice. I feel sorry for everyone." Chad said with a laugh.

"Everyone?" she asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Maybe not the students from West Side."

"Of course not." Things became silent again after that, only the sounds of hospital equipment could be heard. She started to feel queasy again and took a few crackers out of her purse to munch on.

"Are you having problems with morning sickness?" He asked thoughtfully. "Why do they call it morning sickness when it happens at any time? Kim ruined another pair of my shoes yesterday evening when I was helping her with her physics homework." Caroline was well aware that Kim was getting sick at all times of the day. After father and son finally stopped yelling at each other it was decided that for the rest of this semester Kim and Alex would be staying in the guest room when Troy was not in town. Troy did not want his pregnant girlfriend home alone even if his father lived next door.

"Fortunately, your brother and sister have not been responsible for ruining anyone shoes yet." She joked.

"That's good." Chad said with hands crossed over his chest.

"Just because I'm having another kid doesn't mean I love you less. You're going to be my baby even when you're married and raising your own kids even if that happens to be sometime this summer or 50 years from now." She said bluntly.

"You mean that? Wait, why did you say that? How long were you outside?" Chad asked putting his intellect to good use.

"For a little while. I came here mostly to think. But at least I finally understand why you have been so angry even if you do not believe that is the reason. You are worried that you are going to have to compete for my attention against a new baby, stepbrother and stepfather." She said walking back over to Chad.

"Maybe," he said with half a shrug. That was Chad for 'yes'.

"You shouldn't be. You do realize how ridiculous that sounds?" She asked.

"Maybe." Chad said with another shrug.

"I am always going to be there for you. Come on, we can stop for ice cream. I wonder if I can get them to fold in pickles at Cold Stone?" She said as a peace offering. Chad rarely turned down food.

"No, Tiffany asked back in December. I thought I was done with crazy pregnancy cravings for a while." Chad said with a groan. "We should go next door instead for their Heath Bar cookie." Chad said knowing that was her favorite cookie and candy bar for that matter. That was also his way of apologizing for the way he has acted for the last few weeks.

"Maybe we should check out their wedding cakes too?" She suggested as a hint.

"I may be starting to warm up to the idea of sharing a half sibling with Troy a little sooner than anticipated but I'm not ready to help you plan your wedding to Jack any time soon." Chad said a little shattered.

"I meant for you and Sharpay." She said sighing.

"Let me guess, Marisol talk to you. She mentioned that we would have a better chance if we were already married before the hearing. Is that why you changed your mind?" Chad said without revealing his emotions.

"That was not why I changed my mind. You are an adult now. As much as I want to protect you from all the bad things in the world I can't. No matter what, I will always be your mom. Just like you will always be my child. I had to remind myself of that." She said with a smile.

"So basically I need to go tell Sharpay that on top of everything else we are planning a wedding to take place as soon as possible." He suddenly had this mysterious smirk on his face.

"Pretty much." She said with a sigh.

"My fiancé has always enjoyed a challenge." He said smiling.

* * *

**To be continued.**

Up next, a very Chad and Sharpay wedding or at least the beginning of it. All suggestions for the wedding of the century will be considered. I also need a wedding song. The one I want to use is This Is Us by the Backstreet Boys but the song came out about five months after the chapter takes place. Therefore, I can't use that even if it is completely perfect for the couple. Anything written prior to March 2009 will be considered.


	43. Why Can't We Just Go to Vegas?

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter or who provided suggestions for the wedding. Now begins the craziest wedding ever or at least the planning for it.

Author note: I put URLs for certain things for the wedding in this story. Of course, to do this I had to enter it in the style that the site would not instantly delete. If you want to see what I am using just replace the word 'dot' and remove the spaces.

* * *

**Chapter 43: Why Can't We Just Go to Vegas?**

"I love you. I honestly do. But if you make me wear pink, the wedding is off." Chad said in annoyance as he proof read his Women's Studies essay from the safety of the couch as everyone else worked on wedding plans. Okay Amanda was studying for chemistry as she made suggestions. She was currently participating in a wedding planning/study for midterms sleep over at Chad and Sharpay's condo. Thank god, she only had one more exam before spring break. She seriously needed the vacation. Things were a little bit easier to deal with now that basketball and cheerleading were over for the season. Trying to balance that, work, and school was killing her. Add to that whatever was going on with Zeke and it was a recipe for disaster. At least she had one less thing to deal with even if the Zeke situation was still complicated.

Being Sharpay's personal assistant was also exhausting but it was better than any job involving asking if you want fries with that. She did other things at the Evans Corporation but right now her main job was helping Sharpay get through this semester with sanity intact. Today's duties involve wedding planning.

"That's too bad. I think you would look good in a pink cover bun. You could also have a pink rose lapel." Marc said from the table as he sat in front of the two dozen wedding magazines brought in addition to his wedding planning binder conveniently in digital form on his laptop. (Did she mention that Marc grew up with the top wedding planner in Arizona as a mother and was forced to help out a lot?) He finished his last essay 30 minutes ago and was now helping Sharpay with the planning.

Actually, maybe he was there to keep an eye on Jimmy who was rehearsing at the house with his former girlfriend. Once again, they had a lead role in the musical, even if this was much more of an ensemble piece. Kerri is going to play Karen which was the character based on Penelope. Due to her years as a cheerleader, she was the one best suited for the physical aspects of the role. Anybody else would have to do serious training to learn all the routines. Jimmy would be playing Jordan the basketball player torn between school loyalty and the girl that he wants. (Yes, Amanda knows this character is based on Zeke but she tries not to think about that or Zeke in general for that matter. She does not like him even if she really does.)

Amanda's personal theory is that the two got cast in these roles because even though they are no longer together they have no trouble making out with each other on cue. Marc seemed a little upset at first until he started watching rehearsals. Again, Amanda refuses to speculate on anything or ask questions.

Of course, most likely Marc is helping plan this wedding because if it did happen in March he will win the 'when will Chad and Sharpay get married' betting pool. With the amount of money he will win he can afford a new car without working the June wedding rush for minimum pay and little thanks from his mom.

For Marc's pink lapels suggestion he got a pillow to the head.

"Okay, no pink." Sharpay said as she continued feeding baby Pay her bottle. "Although, little Sharpay looks adorable in the color."

"Your kid looks good in any color. Personally, since I'm not actually in the bridal party, I don't care what color you choose. Just choose one so we can rework the last scene of the musical and discuss my wardrobe choices. I actually care about the dresses for the play a lot more than anything for your wedding." Penelope said in annoyance as she fed baby Isaac his bottle. If anybody told Amanda six months ago, that Penelope Castro would be voluntarily helping take care of Chad and Sharpay's children she would have had the person committed. Now they were behaving almost amicably.

"Troy suggested black and crimson as part of a funeral theme but I think that was a joke." Kim said walking back into the living room slash dining room after most likely getting Alex to go to sleep in his little bed in the nursery room.

"That is because my best friend is convinced I'm only getting married to keep custody of Olivia and Isaac." Chad replied icily.

"Trust me it was a joke. My fiancé knows better than that." Kim said taking one of the few empty seats at the table.

"Zeke is the one who thinks you're only getting married to keep your kids. Although he thinks that is admirable." Amanda added.

"And when did Zeke say this? Marc asked before anyone else could. Amanda knew everyone else was thinking it.

"We're not together." She blurted out maybe a little too quickly. Everyone was staring at her.

"I think your Aunt Amanda protests a little too much." Penelope mumbled under her breath to baby Isaac.

"I talked to Zeke because the bakery he works for agreed to do the wedding cake on the super short notice of eight days. Since there is going to be less than 50 people at the wedding it shouldn't be that hard. You can either come by the bakery tomorrow to choose the cake or Zeke said he could bring by samples tomorrow night if you can't get away from the babies for that long."

"I think the evil twins can sleep through a cake tasting or we can ask Jimmy's mom to stay later. We can come by tomorrow at 3PM. Do you think I can get away with doing five pages instead of four because I am using pictures in the women's studies essay?" Chad asked everyone.

"Maybe. There's no point in picking out the cake or anything else until we choose a color scheme." Sharpay said pointing to various color samples with the baby bottle.

"Again, I say just pick something. We all would like to go home. Black and red look good together if you want to go for a gothic look. You could probably pull it off now that you're no longer a blonde." Penelope·complained.

"I thought you were staying over with everyone else." Amanda said in confusion. She knew Penelope was trying to spend as little time in the dorms as possible. That's probably why she was here. Amanda knew better than to tell anyone about what was happening in the dorms. Penelope would kill her.

"Sharpay and I may be getting along better but it is best not to push it." Penelope replied wisely but Amanda knew it was just an excuse.

"So you would rather be tortured by Richard's friends?" Marc asked the question that Amanda wished she could.

"What?" Chad asked getting up from the couches. He did not look happy at all.

"It's nothing and I doubt it will happen again after Zeke threatened to turn two of the guys into cupcake ingredients." Penelope responded.

"Why exactly are Richard's friends torturing you?" Sharpay asked with genuine concern.

"Okay what about a blue or purple for the wedding?" Penelope asked trying to avoid the question. "Sharpay junior looks good in both colors."

"Nice subject change. Richard's friends are torturing her so she will not testify at his trial in May. Though, she is right about the possible color scheme." Marc added with a smile.

"Is that true?" Chad asked.

"You should know what colors your girlfriend and your children look good in." Penelope responded sardonically.

"He meant about Richard's friends. Are they trying to intimidate you into not testifying?" Sharpay asked in clarification.

"No but only because I can't be intimidated. Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Can we please get back to planning the wedding so I can do other things?" Nobody believed her as evident by everybody's expression, but no one said anything.

"Fine, but if it gets worse let me know. I'm sure Caroline will know someone that can get you a restraining order." Sharpay said with a sigh. "I can live with blue and purple."

"Why can't we go to Vegas?" Chad asked with a groan.

"Because you need to give the impression that this marriage isn't for the sole purpose of keeping the babies. A quick wedding at The Chapel of Love with Elvis presiding will not do that." Kim answered

"Even if we did get married in Vegas we would still need to pick out a color scheme and wedding cake. I can handle a quickie wedding but there is no way in hell I will have a tacky wedding. Everything will be tasteful." Sharpay said with a smile that was extremely misleading.

"Chad give up, Sharpay has been planning this since she was 12. I have proof." That was when Kim pulled out a huge binder with the words wedding plans for Sharpay Bolton on the cover. Of course, the Bolton was crossed out with a question mark replacing it. Marc quickly grabbed it from her as Sharpay buried her face in Olivier's blanket. Chad was right behind him. You could probably hear his laughter three units over.

"How did you get that? More importantly, did you show Troy?" Sharpay hissed at her friend.

"Your brother and his girlfriend came across it when they were cleaning the old house before it was torn down. Actually, Taylor gave it to Troy. I think that was her little payback for you know. He gave it to me for safekeeping once the laughter stopped." Kim replied.

"Great, I cannot even punish her for it." Sharpay mumbled to herself.

"Other than the fact that you will not become Sharpay Bolton, this stuff may actually be usable." Marc said holding up the invitation. "All you have to do is change the names on this announcement and you will be good to go."

"You might as well keep Jack on there as father of the groom. There's no possibility of the last name Bolton?" Kim asked confusing half the room.

"I'm over 18, so there's no point in Jack formally adopting me even if I would like that. The easiest way for me to cut all ties with my sperm donor is to take Sharpay's last name. That's what we're planning to do." Everybody knew that Chad wanted nothing to do with his father. Getting rid of his last name was the final step in that. "I think you're right, Jack should stay as father of the groom. We might as well take Darby off all together. I am fine with any font style or stationary type." Chad added. This is an obvious sign that Chad was no longer upset at Jack for getting his mom pregnant.

"Go with the invitations with the names changed and a metallic blue ink. I don't have time to look through 200 samples again." Sharpay's said in acquiescence.

"I can take this to the printers tomorrow if you e-mail me the final guest list." Amanda said checking it off the list.

"Two things down, one million more to go." Chad said taking a seat at the table. "Really, why can't we go to Vegas?" Chad asked looking at his fiancée again but all he got was a dirty look.

"Let's talk venue." Marc interrupted holding up a list in Sharpay's neat handwriting. "There is a list in the book of possible places that isn't completely out of date. I do not think we will be able to get any of the churches or synagogues on your wish list. What about your father's country club?"

"It's under Darby's control." Chad answered quickly. Nobody else said anything about that.

"What about the hotel where you had the baby party?" Marc asked.

"Even though I'm part owner, Chad and Sharpay are banned from holding any events there for the next two years. Jason C's stunt involving throwing a minor through a window was beyond even my influence to smooth over. Actually, the only reason it's not a lifetime ban is because I'm part owner." Kim mentioned with a sigh. "However, you do have reservations for the weekend at Garden West of Santa Fe in the honeymoon suite. The babies will spend the weekend with grandma and grandpa Bolton." Amanda was sure Kim would have been hugged if Sharpay did not have a sleeping baby in her arms. Instead, she received verbal thanks from both.

"That hotel is definitely out. What about one of the other good hotels in the city?" Marc questioned.

"This is a relatively small city with only a few five star hotels. Hotel managers talk to each other. An incident where the cops are called that many times is going to be memorable and talked about. What happened at the Garden is probably all over town by now. There is not a hotel, banquet facility, or any other similar venue in the city that would be willing to rent to us right now in light of what happened, let alone on this short notice, regardless of the money involved. Why do you think I'm sending Chad and Sharpay to Santa Fe for the weekend? I couldn't get any reservations in this city and I own a few of those hotels. Do you have any idea how much property damage your ex boyfriend caused?" Kim asked pointing to Marc.

"If I see Jason again, I'm going to kill him." Sharpay mumbled under her breath.

"Next time, I'll make sure my date has basic manners and common sense. Honestly, I don't care what Jason Cross does any more. I'm over it and him. We have a wedding to plan in eight days and it's not going to be that easy unless we want to have the wedding in Santa Fe. Let us think outside the box. How about the roof at East high? It's emotionally significant if nothing else." Marc said reading another possibility from the list.

"No." Both Chad and Sharpay answered emphatically.

"Principle Dick is a little angry that we are circumventing his attempts to stop the school musical by putting it on at the university. He is even more upset that I pulled my generous donation from the school after I found out that he was planning to misappropriate it. I don't think it'll be a good idea to ask for any favors right now." Kim pointed out wisely.

"What about the university?" Penelope mentioned. "Half the school is named after your family."

"Not going to happen." Chad mumbled to himself. "The school hates me."

"No they hate the coaches for pissing off the NCAA. You were cleared in the entire scandal. They just want you to come back and play again." Amanda pointed out.

"You know that the university loves the money that they get from Sharpay's dad. More importantly, they want the money that they can get from me." Kim remarked darkly.

"She did successfully talk them into letting us do the play at A of U." Penelope added.

"For a generous donation to the theater department, of course. I am sure they would be willing to let us have the wedding during spring break for another generous donation. The real question is where will we have it on campus?" Kim asked.

"The ballroom in the student center?" Marc suggested.

"It would be a good place for the reception and they do have catering facilities there. I don't think it is right for the ceremony." Kim mention.

"I'm not having glorified cafeteria food at my wedding." Sharpay said vehemently.

"We can find a restaurant to cater but we will probably have to use the university catering staff to serve." Amanda mentioned remembering her training from when she worked for dining services.

"That works for the reception and I'm sure the college students can use the money. The ballroom is pretty." Sharpay acquiesced. She was being mostly reasonable about this which is surprising to anybody that actually knows her.

"So let's work on the ceremony. What about the atrium in Crenshaw?" Marc suggested.

"If you look at page 22 of the binder you would know I want an outdoor wedding. Weather permitting, of course. I did always like the gardens in front of Evans hall." Sharpay suggested.

"It's a small ceremony with just family. I think the space is just big enough to pull it off." Penelope added.

"That could work." Chad mentioned. "We can get married on the stairs in front."

"Now all we have to do is order everything for the outdoor wedding including chairs and the sound system." Marc mentioned as Amanda was already mentally figuring out where to get this stuff.

"Things might be easier if you delegate some things or get a wedding planner." Marc mentioned.

"We can't get outside help because we're trying to keep Darby and the former Mrs. Jackson from finding out what we're doing." Sharpay said in annoyance.

"Besides that is what we have you for." Amanda said with a smile. "You know what you're doing. How many summers did you work at your mom's wedding planning business because you had no choice?"

"More than I care to remember. But it did pay for my nice wardrobe and I made lots of political connections in Arizona." Marc said with a sneaky smile. "I spent so much time doing wedding stuff that I know everything we need to do. The problem is I don't have any contacts here."

"However, the rest of us do. Delegation is Ideal." Sharpay remarked. "Besides we will pay you well for your services." Marc just smiled most likely thinking about everything else he could do this summer now that he can afford not to be his mom's slave.

"I can take care of everything needed to set up the ceremony itself. They may not let us have the wedding at the Garden, but I'm sure we can use some of the supplies." Kim suggested.

"OK, Kim you are in charge of the setup for the wedding. What about securing someone to perform the ceremony?" Amanda asked as she continued typing everything up on her laptop.

"Judge Suarez said she would do it. Mom called her Tuesday." Chad said smiling.

"That works." Marc said with a smile. "Do you trust Zeke to choose a menu?"

"That's about the only thing I trust him with." Sharpay scoffed.

"Maybe he can pick something now and then do a tasting?" Kim suggested.

"That can work." Marc said hesitantly before returning to his checklist. "I assume that your father will be taking care of security?" He asked looking directly at Sharpay.

"Of course, we had enough gate crashers at the baby party." Sharpay replied calmly.

"Now that you have a color scheme, I'm willing to volunteer to take care of the little things like party favors, flowers, and decorating. Are the suggestions in the book still valid?" Marc asked.

"Get a few options together and e-mail me and Chad the images. We can decide from there." Sharpay suggested.

"I can deal with that." Marc said. "We joked about it but you and Chad really do need to decide on the wedding party."

"That's easy. Kim is maid of honor with Amanda as a bridesmaid. Troy will be the best man and Ryan will be the other attendant." Sharpay said smiling.

"Alex will be the ring bear." Chad added.

"We are having a small bridal party because we are having a small wedding." Sharpay told everyone.

"Besides somebody needs to sit in the seats." Chad mumbled under his breath.

* * *

Spending Friday afternoon sampling every cake combination known to man after turning in one of the most uncomfortable essays he has ever written would be a good thing. Unfortunately, having only seven more days until the wedding was making Sharpay go slightly mental, but he loved her anyway.

"This is my wedding and even though we have little more than a week to plan everything it will be perfect. When I say perfect, I mean that my wedding cake doesn't look like something that came from the Smarty Mart bakery. Bring me something else." Sharpay said as she literally spat out the chocolate cake with vanilla icing.

"You heard the lady. Let's try a lemon with chocolate, peaches and cream, raspberry truffle cream, Orange citrus, blueberry pearl, and the chocolate cream cheese with butter cream." Marc said rapidly as he looked at the menu.

"I told you even with just seven days, Sharpay would not choose something simple." Zeke mumbled under his breath to his boss, not that she heard him.

Their small wedding of just family and friends has already ballooned to at least 65 people and that's not including the plus ones. Really, it wasn't that bad considering how much family they absolutely have to invite to this. He just hopes Aunt Claudia will be over him taking the last name Evans by the time the ceremony actually begins. Considering what she thinks of Charles at the moment, it may be possible.

As Chad has said multiple times, he would be happy if they hopped on the first plane to Vegas. Of course, his lawyer mother has repeatedly brought out the importance of this being a real wedding. The judge will most likely not see a quickie Vegas ceremony as a real wedding. That also means getting married in judge Suarez's office is also off the table, much to Chad's dismay.

The good news Kim Bolton is a miracle worker and has already secured the ballroom and the garden at A of U for the ceremony. All she had to do was finally tell the university that she was going to start a new scholarship fund benefiting the school with an initial endowment of one million dollars. However, Kim has decided not to tell the trustees that the scholarship is to benefit teenage mothers until after the ceremony is over. The Garden hotel will be handling the setup for the wedding itself as long as Chad and Sharpay agreed to never use their services again for an event. Chad doesn't understand why they are getting blamed for the stupidity of Jason Cross.

The bad news is no matter how much he would love not to invite certain members of his family to the wedding he cannot get out of it. He can see the argument between Grandma Sanchez and his mom right now. Actually, he can see the fight between Grandma Sanchez and Aunt Claudia right now. Maybe he better talk to Mr. Evans and Jose about more security. Is having one family get together where nobody gets arrested too much to ask for?

Now all they have to do is pick a cake. Chad would rather be taking his physics midterm again in Portuguese.

"Because you're going to have a small wedding I suggest some of the cakes in the front of the book." The Baker said halfheartedly not really caring about their business.

"Sharpay choose whatever you want. I don't care what it looks like as long as it tastes good." Chad told his fiancée wanting her to get what she really wants no matter what.

"Why did I bring you with me?" Sharpay said looking up from the binder of cakes.

"Because I am the groom, I promise to participate fully in the taste test."

"You would." Sharpay scoffed.

"We have lots of options for a small wedding depending on your budget." Chad instantly knew with the woman was thinking considering they were college students having a last minute wedding.

"There is no budget." Marc said quickly.

"I heard Smarty Mart makes a good wedding cake." The woman said as she picked up the books from the two obviously misunderstanding.

"When Marc says there is no budget, he means money is not a problem. Do you not know who I am? I am Sharpay fucking Evans and my family owns this town." Sharpay said angrily as she grabbed her purse.

"Yes, but you are also getting married at 19 and you have put on weight recently. Your father could have easily cut you off, especially if you're in a family way." The woman replied snidely almost happy that Sharpay was leaving.

"Her dad loves Chad. Better than me anyway. Sharpay sit back down and I will bring you my signature cookies." Zeke said as he walked back with several plates of cake in an effort to save this tasting.

"I'm only doing this so you will make cookies for the wedding party favors." Sharpay said in irritation as she took a seat again.  
"I brought all the samples you requested as well as a few that I thought Sharpay and Chad will like." Zeke said as he placed the first six plates on the table.

"Madison, I suggest if you ever want to make a cake for an Evans corporate event ever again you will allow Mr. Baylor to take over this tasting." Marc suggested quickly.

"He's just my apprentice." The woman practically screamed, glaring angry at Pay.

"I'm starting to reconsider both of your positions here. He hasn't completely alienated the bride and therefore I trust him to take over." Called another woman from the kitchen. Chad was sure she was the owner of the bakery and the coworker that Zeke does not refer to as a cold-hearted bitch. That title was obviously reserved for the woman in front of him.

"Fine, I don't want to do this anyway." The angry woman left, slamming the door behind her.

"Sorry about that. Her fiancé called off the wedding two days ago after confessing that he was in love with her male best friend, so helping people plan their dream wedding may not be the best thing." Zeke said as an excuse.

"Couldn't happen to a nicer person." Sharpay mumbled to herself.

After tasting 15 different cakes it was decided that they would go with the chocolate raspberry cake. The cake itself involved purple and butterflies made of sugar. (http : / / www dot weddingdecorationsidea dot com / wp - content / uploads / 2011 / 06 / wedding - cakes - purple - 3 dot jpg)

The menu for the wedding was going to be a surprise. They picked out some of the ingredients for the main entree and appetizers but the restaurant would have all control from there. The main entrees will involve eggplant, some sort of steak, and tuna or other seafood. One entree will also have to be completely vegetarian. (Chad has two vegetarians on his side of the family alone, so he's trying to be considerate.) Chad's favorite restaurant was catering so he really didn't care what they decided to make. He loves the entire menu. Sharpay was willing to at least give everything a taste later in the week. Chad was planning to visit Tiffany at that time. After the disaster that was the cake tasting he wanted to avoid it at all cost. Let Marc deal with it, it's what they're paying him for.

After the insanity that was the baby party, it was decided there would be no open bar. They may serve champagne but that was it. No hard liquor because Chad does not want to make an ass of himself at his own wedding.

"Food and drink for the reception is mostly taken care of." Marc said as they now sat in the restaurant across the street for something substantial to level off their blood sugar after consuming that much cake. Even though they only took a bite of everything, it was still a lot.

"Now that we have the food and the venue, let's talk about the other details. Do you want to try to get a band for the wedding or just go with a DJ? I personally think we can just attach an iPod to the sound system and be good for the night." Marc said sardonically.

"Let Jackie do it. She did a good job at the school dance when she took over for the idiot in December and I know she can use the money." Chad suggested.

"That is a good idea. She can use Kelsey's old stuff because she did not take anything with her." Sharpay said smiling as she looked over the menu.

"I told you I could contribute to the wedding planning."

"Yes, you had one good idea. I think I am going to get a salad just to get the taste of sugar out of my mouth." Sharpay practically mumbled.

"I think the only thing left is clothing. We have an appointment to pick out your tuxedo Monday. Troy will have to go with whatever we get because he will not be here until Thursday night. What time will your brother get here?" Marc asked as he turned to Sharpay.

"Monday morning." Sharpay said in response. "He is coming in early to help."

"That's good. I will come with you to the Airport to pick him up. Then we can go straight to the tuxedo shop."

"What about the bridesmaid dresses?" Sharpay questioned. Due to the play and taking care of the baby's it was decided that someone else would choose a few options for Sharpay for dresses for her and the bridesmaids. Unfortunately, the most fashion forward friend was Penelope.

"Can I just say I'm shocked that you're letting Penelope choose the wedding dress?" He suggested to his fiancée in mock surprise.

"No, I'm letting Penelope choose options for the dress. She sees what's possible and I choose from there. She is doing a really good job on the costumes for the musical. Besides she is staying at Kim's house for the rest of the school year so that means she will have adequate supervision." Sharpay defended.

"How did that happen?" Chad asked completely confused. He really did not think that Penelope and Kim were that close.

"Let's just say Penelope downplayed how bad things were with Richard's friends. For her own safety, it's best that she is not on campus until after the trial. Living with her mom is not an option, because, it's just not." Marc said gravely.

"Troy will not let Kim live alone during the pregnancy and you can only take living with your family for so long." Sharpay added. Chad agreed with her completely.

* * *

"Where is your girlfriend?" Of course, that would be the first question his sister asked when Ryan got in the car.

"I haven't seen you since January and the first question you ask is about my former girlfriend?" Given the strange look that he is receiving from his sister he probably should have broken the news about his breakup with Taylor more gently. Although, can you really consider it a breakup when you were never really dating, just having sex occasionally? Maybe that was the reason why Ryan told her yesterday that it would be best if they stopped having sex for a while, when she decided to spend her spring break in DC without providing an explanation instead of coming with him to New Mexico as planned. How can you have a relationship without trust? It was obvious that Taylor did not trust him with her heart. Taylor has been becoming more and more distant over the last two months and she would not tell him why. However, it was in his best interest not to tell his slightly insane sister exactly what happened right now or ever.

"Ex girlfriend? What happened?" Sharpay asked quickly as she pulled away from the curve. Her friend Marc was sitting in the front seat and Chad was supposedly meeting them at The Tuxedo Shop.

"Can it be a breakup when you are never really dating? She never trusted me enough to let me be her boyfriend. At least she didn't leave me for her roommate. This is your weak. I want to focus on you." Ryan said trying to change the subject.

"Fine, but we're still talking about this later." she said pulling out of the waiting area parking.

"After the wedding." Ryan said hoping he would be long gone by that time.

* * *

"This still makes me look weird." Chad said as he walked out of the dressing room in a powder blue tuxedo that was beyond wrong. Marc just put his head in his hands. Sometimes he wondered how his mom could do this job for the last 20 years without killing one of her clients. The only reason why he worked at her business, other than he had no choice, was he believed if you could pull off a successful wedding then you can pull off a successful political campaign. Marc was still convinced he took on too much by agreeing to plan this wedding solo with just a little more than a week.

"I don't care that blue is the official collar of this wedding Sharpay will cut off my dick if I let you wear that. I like my dick." Marc said shaking his head.

"So dose Jimmy." Chad also mumbled to himself but Marc just ignored him.

"For the love of Versace, please just put on what I gave you." At that moment, Sharpay's brother came out of the dressing room looking perfect.

"Now that's a good tuxedo." Marc looked appreciative. Just because he was friends with benefits again with Jimmy didn't mean he could not appreciate a good looking man. Besides, he has a rule about staying away from anyone on the rebound. (It doesn't count if you were with that person first.

"He looks good in that outfit. We can just go with that." Chad said thinking that he would be getting out of trying on 10 more suits.

"Not so fast. You have to dress differently than your attendance. Get back in there now." Marc said with a glare.

"Sharpay gave me direct orders to talk to her brother about why he broke up with Taylor." As much as Marc enjoyed gossip, he really did not have time for this.

"Do you really want to talk about why I broke up with your ex girlfriend?" Ryan asked sarcastically.

"Not really, but I'm marrying your sister. I have little say in the matter, because if I don't she will cut off my dick." He said with a laugh, but he was probably serious.

"I do not want to talk about Taylor right now. It was still more amicable than what happened last time. At least she didn't leave me for her roommate and she didn't spend our entire relationship in the closet. I have the unique privilege of being on both sides of that. Even though she hasn't really talked to me since January, this is still one of my better relationships." Ryan said bitterly. There was definitely a story there.

"How bad were your other relationships?" Marc asked as he literally pushed Chad into the dressing room.

"He dated Jason C in high school. They broke up because Ryan could not handle him being a closet case. Not that any of us knew at the time because Jason was busy making inappropriate jokes in the locker room about the hot cheerleader that he wanted to fuck. Although Ryan was a cheerleader and Jason never specified gender." Chad said as he just got it.

"He was probably talking about Ryan. Everyone just assumed it was a female cheerleader because he most likely used coded language." Marc scoffed.

"Really Chad, do you have to tell everyone?" Ryan asked in annoyance as Marc shut the door on Chad.

"Don't feel bad. I dated the idiot in college. We broke up because he accused me of fooling around with someone else before he threw that person through a window. I completely understand why you switched back to women." He joked.

"I didn't switch back, I'm pan sexual. I date people, not gender. So it's basically people in general that have screwed me over. I think I am going to try celibacy for a while." Ryan said bitterly.

"Unfortunately, there are no other options and I doubt that celibacy will work." Chad said from the dressing room.

"I just don't want to talk about it anymore. This is yours and Sharpay's weekend. I want to enjoy my sister's wedding and spend quality time with my niece and nephew." Ryan said with a sigh as he walked back into the dressing room to change.

"Yes, but your sister is making me talk to you. Seriously, why do I have to try on so many suits? They are all black and formal. Is there any chance I can talk Sharpay into letting me wear jeans and a T shirt." Chad asked only half joking.

"How long have you known my sister?" Ryan responded.

"Never mind. What your sister does not understand is even non-heterosexual men do not want to talk about their feelings under any circumstances. We drink, we throw things, but we do not talk about our feelings." Chad said from the room finally trying on the suit.

"You forgot, we also go clubbing. Thanks to my handy fake ID, I spent at least a week solid at Purple Haze after Jason. Because nothing helps you get over your break up with your significant other after he threw your former FwB out a window like dancing with hot random strangers. We should go out."

"I don't know." Ryan said looking suspicious.

"Don't worry, I have an FwB. This is a group thing. Actually, we should turn this into Chad's bachelor party. We all know Troy will be too 'busy' with Kim to plan anything. Every man should make sure that he's straight or at least really in to women before he gets married." For some reason Ryan and Chad laughed at that.

"Okay there's definitely a cool story there for the party." Marc said out loud.

* * *

"Oh god, I already have baby belly." Kim said to herself as she stood in front of everyone in the floor length purple dress (http : / / www . weddingdressesinfo . com / Purple _ Wedding _ Dresses / purple _ wedding _ dresses _ slim . jpg).

"You're almost 16 weeks pregnant. You're going to look pregnant." Penelope said with a sigh as she looked at Sharpay for help. Maybe she was driving everyone a little too crazy with pregnancy hormones.

"But this dress says I'm a little too pregnant. I already look like a whale." Kim complained.

"Kim, you look fine." Sharpay said in reassurance.

"That's easy for you to say. The first dress you tried on looked perfect on you."( http : / / www . mansion – wedding . com / wp – content / uploads / 2011 / 06 / purple – wedding – dresses – 7 . jpg) Kim walked back into the dressing room, slamming the door behind her. Within seconds, she angrily threw the dress over the door.

"I actually like that dress." Amanda said quietly. That just made Kim more upset.

"Again, you are not pregnant." She practically yelled. "Stupid boyfriend who wanted to have sex in the hot tub." The last part was mumbled to herself.

"We are obviously not going to find a dress that will fit both Kim and Amanda the same way. We should just try to find two dresses in the same color." Penelope suggested, actually being helpful.

"That works for me. I'm going with this." Amanda said just as she walked back into the dressing room.

"I'm going to look at the maternity selection. They are most likely intended for the bride but I'm sure if we give them enough money they will dye anything purple. Please calm down your maid of honor." With that, Penelope walked out of the dressing room and Sharpay walked inside her cubicle.

"Do you mind?" Kim practically screamed.

"How long have we known each other?" She asked.

"Never mind. Sorry, for how I acted." Kim apologized.

"It's okay. You are very pregnant."

"Don't remind me. At least I'm not on the verge of popping like my stepmom."

"Speaking of that side of the family, your step sister broke up with my brother and he won't tell me why." Sharpay complained.

"What?" she asked in surprise not hearing about this before.

"It just happened in the last few days because he would have told me otherwise."

"She didn't say anything to me but she has been very quiet recently. Also, when she calls she usually asks me if I know anything about Vanessa's time in DC." Sharpay took a shaky breath at that.

"Something is going on?" Kim asked picking up on her body language.

"How much do you know about why Vanessa gave Taylor up for adoption?" Sharpay asked hesitantly.

"She told me everything when I recovered consciousness from my emergency delivery of Alex, other than the fact that it was Taylor." Kim told her.

"At the inauguration Taylor found out what really happened. She has been acting strange ever since. I've talked to her maybe four times in the last two months and most of that was about the babies." Sharpay said with concern.

"I'll talk to her." Kim said just as a maternity gown was thrown at her head. (http : / / www DOT momfinds dot com / files / 2011 / 02 / Long - Mesh - Gown - with - Embellished - Y - Neck . jpg )

To be continued.


	44. Not Wonderful, But Getting There

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I will not get this story done before the end of the calendar year, but I am on track to get the story done before it becomes three years old in May. I am thinking there will probably only be 4 to 5 more chapters. That depends on if I do the epilogue as an extension of this story or as a follow-up. I would love to know what others think.

* * *

**Chapter 44: Not Wonderful, But Getting There**

"Why exactly are we meeting Judge Suarez?" Sharpay asked as she pushed the stroller containing a sleeping Pay and Isaac through the halls of the Albuquerque courthouse downtown. She didn't feel like leaving her children with the baby sitter unless she had to and they were starting to sleep long enough for her to do little things like have a conversation or do her homework. There was a good chance they would actually sleep through this meeting.

Maybe Sharpay was afraid that if she didn't keep them with her whenever possible she would lose them forever. She was absolutely terrified that something would go wrong despite having the best custody lawyer money could buy and connections could acquire. (It would probably be good if the judge in charge of the custody case could get to see the couple being parental. Her office was three doors down.)

"I'm not sure. Mom just said that Judge Suarez wanted to see us." Chad explained as they continued walking.

"Did she say why? What if she suddenly decides that she doesn't want to marry us? Do you have any idea how hard it would be to find another judge at this point? This wedding is going to be a disaster." Sharpay said with a little bit of panic. Okay, she was on the verge of hyperventilating as she held onto the stroller with white knuckled tightness. She was so freaked out that she was completely unaware the hallway was filled with people on this Tuesday afternoon. She did not even notice when Chad grabbed her hand.

"Deep cleansing breath, don't panic." Chad said in a voice that made her want to glare at him. This was no time to be patronizing.

"Chad, how can I not panic? We have the Albuquerque chapter of 'Crazy Moms Who Fuck with Their Children's lives' actively trying to make us miserable. Maybe my mom paid off the judge and other officiates in the state to keep me under her thumb. She is just that crazy. She hates me. How can a mother hate her own child?" Sharpay was shaking as the words fell out. Chad wrapped his arms around her in comfort.

"I love Pay and Isaac. I cannot imagine doing anything horrible to our little darlings in a stroller and I didn't give birth to either baby." By this point she was really happy her makeup was crying proof. She would look like a raccoon otherwise.

"Just breathe baby." He said holding her tighter. "I'm not going to say everything will be okay because it's not. Things are not exactly wonderful right now but we can work on that together. If she doesn't want to marry us, we will find someone else. You do you remember that my mother was able to find a judge to grant bail on thanksgiving. Don't panic about the little things. The big things are enough." Chad said as he kissed her forehead.

"At least I know that you two actually care about each other beyond the aesthetic." Said a voice a from behind caring a coffee.

"Judge Suarez." Chad said pulling away from Sharpay but he kept his hand firmly wrapped in hers.

"Come in and have a seat." The judge said motioning Sharpay and Chad into her chambers. It was nothing like the offices that you see on Law and Order. It was a bit on the small side but the furniture was light and modern. There was also a wonderful view of a nearby park. Sharpay pushed the stroller to the side of the seating area before she sat in one of the chairs in from of the old wooden desk. Chad sat next to her.

"I didn't mean to worry either of you. I always ask to meet with any couple that I agreed to marry. It helps cut down on the 72 day divorces." The judge explained.

"That's okay. We're both a bit high strung right now." Sharpay said taking another calming breath. She was half-tempted to pack up the twins and run off to China. Kim had serious connections there because of her company. They probably could stay lost there for years.

"That's understandable considering everything that's happened in the last few months. Care for a lollipop?" The judge extended the jar that she kept on her desk to her and Chad. Her fiancé instantly took out two and handed one to her. It was cherry her favorite. She smiled at him, before unwrapping the sucker.

"Thank you." They both said simultaneously.

"You're welcome. I see you don't like cherry anymore. That was your favorite growing up. I remember you and Troy used to fight over the last one." She said pointing to Chad with a smile. The childhood antidote put Sharpay slightly more at ease. Sharpay doubted Darby could easily buy off somebody that has known Chad since kindergarten.

"It is still my favorite but it is also Sharpay's. She can use it more than me." Chad said around a mouthful of sucker. The judge just smiled.

"The reason why I called you here is I have presided over too many divorces for my own personal taste when I served in family court. Unfortunately there is such a thing as a marriage lasting 72 days or less. One time I had a couple come to my office two days later begging for an annulment. It hurts my heart to see people who supposedly love each other at one time tear each other apart in my courtroom. I've had too many people walk into my office come here for the wrong reasons. I want to know that you two know what you're doing." The judge's voice was somber.

"So you want to talk to us to see if we are getting married for the right reasons? I can assure you that broken condoms were not responsible for this marriage. Also if I didn't care about Sharpay as a human being, there isn't enough money in this state that would make me marry her. I'm not Charles." Chad said smugly. Sharpay just smiled.

"Essentially, yes. You are both very young and the divorce rate for people who get married at your age is higher than the national average. It's very common for people your age to get married because they are running away from something or other looking for something to compensate for his or her bad home life." Sharpay felt anger at that point.

"I'm getting really tired of people looking at me and only seeing my age or thinking they know me because of what has been in the tabloids. My life hasn't been a crystal tiara. I've dealt with an abusive mother and former significant other who had a GHB fetish." The judge's expression darkened at Sharpay's words but she said nothing.

"We are going into this with eyes wide open. I haven't believed in happily ever after for a long time. The delusion of Prince Charming riding up on his trusty steed to rescue me from Darby and everything else that's wrong with my life went out the window when Troy Bolton chose Gabriella over me. I had to rescue myself. Forever takes work. The situation we are in right now is not a fairy tale. If it were Tiffany would magically wake up and be able to raise her own children and Darby would melt the next time it rained." Sharpay said with a tinge of sadness as a stray tear rolled down her cheek.

"That's as likely as Chad and I going through our entire marriage without a single argument. It is just not going to happen. We got in a fight this morning over the best way to sanitize baby bottles." Sharpay saw the judge smirk at that.

"I love and care for Chad for everything that he is, even if that means he talks with his mouth full and hogs the covers at night. I know I cannot change him. He knows the same thing. The most I can hope for is to support him as he grows into the person he is supposed to be and that he does the same for me. Somewhere along the line I hope we can become a true team." Sharpay said as she smiled at Chad.

"I feel the same way. I'm already well aware that I will be doing most of the cooking in our marriage." Chad said with a smirk.

"You're never going to forgive the macaroni and cheese thing?" Sharpay asked with annoyance. "I think I did pretty good last night. I also can now make baby formula with a screaming near newborn in my arms.

"It's amazing what you can do when you have no choice. You're able to cook because I taught you how instead of screaming at you." He said kissing her on the cheek. "We've already talked about this stuff. I can do the cooking and Sharpay can take care of the bills. She is better with budgeting and finance than I am."

To keep her from becoming a spoiled brat her and Chad were given a $5000 a month payment from the trust fund to live on. It was one of Caroline's stipulations. That met actual budgeting, which she was a lot better at now.

"I'm better than you are at that because I'm not absent minded. At least I can remember that you have to send a check for the credit card five days before the due date." She joked back.

"It was one time." Chad said in his defense.

"That's because we switched to direct debit." Sharpay mumbled under breath.

"It's actually refreshing to see someone come into this office without the rose colored glasses on." Judge Suarez said as she grabbed her coffee from the corner of her desk. "It's also good that you discussed this stuff before the wedding. Most couples do not.

"Thank my mother for that." Chad mumbled to himself. "We are well aware that marriage is more than being in love and good sex. Although after watching my parents' marriage disintegrate, I think love should be one of the necessary components. Not necessarily the type of love that gets confused with lust but the unconditional 'I care about your general well being love.' That type sticks around when everything else falls apart." The judge nodded in agreement as Chad continued.

"I already saw one marriage completely fall apart because there was no genuine compassion or regard for each other. I saw another one fall apart because of lack of communication and true trust. At the same time, I saw another survive and flourish because the couple had a true understanding of one another and was able to grow with each other. That's the type of marriage we want to have." Sharpay knew he was talking about the M by that point.

"It's good to hear that. This isn't anything against you personally. I won't be giving any of this information to the judge in the child custody case. This is just for my own piece of mine. I normally have counseling sessions with all the couples I marry before the wedding." She said in a reassuring tone.

"Why couldn't mom tell us that before we left the house?" Chad asked in a whisper.

"Because she was too busy throwing up." Sharpay whispered back.

"Fine, ask whatever you want. We have another 35 minutes before the twins wake up." Sharpay said with another sigh.

"Let's start with an obvious one. Why are you getting married?" The question fell off her lips with ease. There were many possible answers to that question; however, Sharpay knew not to start out with 'to keep the twins' or 'to make my mother miserable'. She also doubted that bringing out that she loved Chad would win her any points with this judge.

"Are we allowed to say because we love each other?" Chad asked in reply.

"As long as it's not the only reason, I would be worried if that wasn't part of the reason why. However, the timing does seem suspicious and I do remember your mother saying repeatedly that she would never let her only child get married as young as she did." Why does everybody think that she is pregnant? It irritated her little bit more because there was a distinct possibility that that would never happen. Not that the judge knew this.

"Good thing I am not an only child anymore." Chad mumbled under breath. "I am 20 months older than she was when she married my dad under duress simply because the condom broke. There is a big difference between getting married at 16 because you father is a bastard with shotgun in hand, literally, then at 18 because you want to. I'm with Sharpay because she makes me happy and truly understands me. We complement each other. My mother saw that and she gave us her blessing." Chad said defensively.

"Maybe the condom did not break but it seems obvious that the two babies that you and your girlfriend keep looking at every second are a factor." The judge's tone was kind as she spoke. "I spent enough time in family court to know married couples are treated more favorable than others in a custody battle. Is that why you are doing this?"

"We would be lying if we said that the custody situation didn't play a role in the timing. Do you have any idea how hard it is to plan a decent wedding in less than two weeks?" Sharpay asked the judge. "We have a menu tasting immediately after this. The schedule is insane."

"I imagine it would be difficult. Most people under the circumstances would just show up to my office with a bouquet and the marriage license." The judge told the couple.

"Sharpay is not most people. It took us 2 hours to find the perfect cake." Chad complained.

"Yes and if we had more than two weeks it would have at least taken that long to do so." Sharpay shot back.

"Of course." Chad replied with another kiss on the cheek and a squeeze of her hand.

"This isn't just a legal maneuver. Maybe if things had turned out differently, we would have waited until after graduation, Chad's graduation anyway. He is already a junior for god's sake. However, it was going to happen anyway. I have never met a person who helps me be myself more. We have known each other since kindergarten and I can see us together 30 years from now when are grandchildren are in kindergarten." Sharpay told the judge truthfully.

"Make it 40. Olivia is not allowed to date until she's 30." That just caused Sharpay to roll her eyes. The judge just seemed amused.

"I remembered your mother having to leave my classes due to needing to attend emergency parent teacher conferences every time you and Miss Evans got into a fight." Sharpay was mortified that the judge remembered that.

"It turns out that was sexual tension." Okay now Sharpay was really mortified. She would smack Chad upside the head but the judge would probably see that as spousal abuse. "When you are four years old, that mostly comes out as chocolate milk stealing and pigtail pulling." He smirked.

"I have a feeling this is going to take all day." The judge mumbled to herself. "Let's discuss plans for the future." She said picking up the checklist on her desk.

* * *

Zeke impatiently sat in one of the tables in the private banquet room of Demand's nursing a cola. Chad and Sharpay were supposed to be there 35 minutes ago to go over the possible menus for the rehearsal dinner and the reception. Unfortunately, they were late. At least Sharpay remembered to send a text message to say what was happening. Apparently, they were stuck being interrogated by the judge for the wedding. According to Sharpay, the woman was worse than Chad's crazy Aunt Claudia with the inappropriate questions. She was only able to send a message because they had to take a diaper changing break.

It almost seems surreal that he was helping to plan his ex girlfriend's wedding. He even designed her wedding cake because Sharpay Evans cannot have a cake from the book even if this was a quickie wedding. Then again, the fact that Sharpay was still speaking to him after what happened with Penelope was surreal in itself. He wanted to kick his ass now for being such a dick about the entire thing. He should have never taken Jason's advice about hiding his relationship with Penelope and using Sharpay as his cover. This is what happens when your friends with somebody who cares more about appearances then being true to their selves.

Looking back on the situation now, he could see how bad the decision was. He saw dealing with a 'slightly insane about the wedding' Sharpay as reparations for what he did to her in high school just like helping Penelope with the all city musical. These were his penance and both girls were trying to make him as miserable as possible. Part of him thought Sharpay was late on purpose, but she would never jeopardize her perfect wedding for petty revenge.

He would not be trying to make up for all of the stupid things he did to Penelope and Sharpay if it wasn't for Amanda. She was special to Zeke and it was not just because she was beautiful. He knew there was something unique about her the first time he spoke to her. First of all, she was fearless. He could instantly tell that she would defend her friends to the very end and even her enemies. She was just as furious with him for what he did to Penelope as Sharpay and she was barely on speaking terms with the girl at the time. That could be the cheerleader code of honor coming into play. It had to be similar to the basketball players honor code. There were members of his high school team that Zeke absolutely despised but he would always have their back no matter what.

Zeke held in wonderment Amanda's ability to forgive even if she could not forgive him. It was one of her better qualities. She was able to see past who she assumed Penelope was, and give her a second chance and now they were on their way to becoming friends. Maybe if enough time passed by, Amanda would realize that he was not who he was in high school.

Contrary to what she probably assumed, he did not want her forgiveness merely so she would sleep with him again. Don't get him wrong, the sex was good even if he barely remembered it. However, he wanted her and not merely for the purpose of getting off. He loved that they could spend hours exchanging text messages about silly things. He loved the snide comments that she made during drama class about their slightly deranged teacher. He probably would be flunking English if she didn't help him out during drama class. She was brilliant in a way Sharpay and Penelope were not. Both women were smart but they were so afraid of showing that brilliance until recently. Amanda didn't care what others assumed about her. She was going to be the person she wanted to be regardless of what everyone else thought. Despite having a severe learning disability, Amanda was still a premed major and Zeke respected her ability to push herself to do more.

Yet half the time she wanted nothing to do with him. On the surface it seemed like she couldn't see beyond whom she thought he was. Her trying to date that ass from drama class was a prime example of this. Then there were other times where he knew that maybe someday she really would give him a chance. She did not hesitate asking him to help with the wedding.

It was Zeke's hope that by working on hand painted sugar butterflies just because Amanda asked him to help with the wedding would get her to see who he was now. He looked at his phone one more time in impatience as the door to the banquet room finally opened. He hoped it was Sharpay and Chad or at the very least not the angry chef who was furious about being made to wait. If it wasn't for the fact that the Evans really did own Albuquerque, they would probably be looking for new caterer right now. Instead, it was Amanda and he instantly smiled.

"If you make some sort of sexual innuendo right now I will hurt you." She said with an icy glare as she took the seat next to him.

"Would not dream of it. Why are you here?" He asked in confusion. He thought it was just going to be the three of them because even Marc was too busy to be there.

"Sharpay sent me a text message 20 minutes ago saying that her and Chad were still being interrogated by judge Suarez and probably won't be out for at least an hour. They are going over career plans right now." She said with a sigh of annoyance.

"Like that's going to take an hour." He snorted. "Chad's going to design basketball video games and Sharpay desires to take Broadway by storm." He said with a bit of annoyance and frustration.

"That was last year. Chad is currently searching for a new major, something involving science. He only chose computer science because it was easy and there are a lot of tech jobs in New Mexico. Sharpay is now a business major. She left the drama department behind before you even got here. Didn't you wonder why Sharpay was not in drama class? Darby was the one who brainwashed Sharpay into wanting to become the drama queen. Acting was in calling for her, it was a survival strategy." Actually, he did wonder about that but he figured Sharpay just tested out of the beginners class, Although if that was the case, Penelope probably would not be there. She had just as much experience as Sharpay if not more because of the entire summer program she did.

"It's not like we talk that much. I just assumed that she needed to take another class instead. Most of our conversations have revolved around her threatening to cut off my dick if I do something stupid to you or the babies. The twins are adorable." He added as an afterthought.

"They're absolutely wonderful as long as I'm not changing their diaper. Mr. Evans does not pay me enough to put up with that. Actually, he doesn't pay me enough to do a lot of things but I am here out of friendship right now." Amanda said playing with the tablecloth.

"I'm touched." He joked.

"I am here for Sharpay, not you. I am going to be her food tasting proxy at least for the appetizers. I am supposed to eliminate all the really bad choices and make sure there's nothing on the menu that could put someone in the hospital. We are trying to avoid that this time. They should be here by the time we move to the main course." She said with a sigh.

"Just think of it as getting to eat really good food for free. I'm just happy I don't have to sit here alone." Zeke said as their waiter brought in the first few options.

"You're never alone." She joked.

"I'm always alone. I'm too busy working and trying to get you to talk to me to have a social life." He said taking a bite of the arugula and gorgonzola salad.

"I doubt that." Amanda mumbled under breath.

"I think this could benefit from some caramelized Pears in brandy." Amanda mentioned after an all too long moment of silence.

"That could work and we should probably avoid all salads with tomatoes. We don't want a repeat of the pizza study party incident from last week." Zeke said referring to when Kim and Alex stop by Chad's house when they were practicing their scene for drama. Kim turned around for a few seconds and Alex grabbed a slice of regular pizza and took a bite before anybody could take it from him. He looked like a cherry tomato and Kim spent several hours at the emergency room with her toddler. Since that time, only tomato free pizza is ordered whenever the little boy would be there.

"Trust me on the lack of social life. If it wasn't for working on this wedding, I would have had nothing to do last Friday or during this break." He almost sounded bitter as he spoke. He really had no life outside of work and school anymore. At least in high school he had basketball.

"I thought you just did it for the money." She said with a smile.

"It doesn't hurt. I don't have that many real friends anymore. Chad is barely speaking to me and he is too busy with diaper detail anyway. I think I have a better relationship with Troy's almost-wife than I do with him and she still mad at me for what I did to Sharpay. If I can pull off a good cake, Sharpay may forgive me for being a prick. Let us not speak of Jason. He is too much of a bastard for me to deal with right now. Things are so bad that I think Penelope maybe my new best friend." He said with a fake pout. Amanda laughed at that.

"Penelope does not think you are a complete bastard anymore, so that probably helps." Amanda said as she tried the seared tuna.

"That's probably because I'm helping her with the play." He said trying the stuffed mushroom. This was definitely going on the menu. Even the vegetarian version tastes good.

"I thought it had more to do with you defending her from certain idiots who don't want her to testify. I normally don't like tuna but this is pretty good." Amanda said taking another bite of the citrus infused fish with a dill and cucumber salad.

"If it comes in a can, it does not count as tuna. This is seared just right and the cucumber adds a bit of crunch. What I did the other day was not a big deal. Penelope is a friend, sort of, and I'd take care of my friends. They shouldn't be trying to talk her out of testifying. Be glad I wasn't here when Richard did what he did. I would have cut his dick off." Zeke spat out with absolute venom.

"I believe you." Amanda said as the waiter brought out a cheese tray.

"Cheese?" She asked.

"According to Marc, in an effort to make this marriage seem as real as possible and not some highly calculated legal maneuver, you and the rest of the bridal party will be taking pictures after the wedding, lots of pictures. We need to keep 100 plus guests entertained and away from the bar for at least an hour. My suggestion is chocolate and cheese." Zeke told her as he took a drink of water.

"Yes, Chad and Sharpay's two favorite food groups, that should make them happy. I thought there was no open bar because of what happened last time?" She asked referring to the disastrous baby shower last month.

"Mr. Evans vetoed that idea, although they will be strictly enforcing the liquor laws and it's mostly going to be a wine bar, hence the cheese and chocolate. Besides, as long as my former best friend is not invited, I think we can avoid what happened last time." Zeke said with slight irritation as he mentally noted that all raw milk cheeses would have to be eliminated or at least well labeled because of the three pregnant ladies in attendance.

"I really would like to know why you're not speaking to Jason." He dropped the piece of Irish cheddar in his hand at her question.

"I'm still speaking to Jason. Yesterday, I gave him tips for the basketball scene when I was on set. Penelope asked for my help because Sharpay was stuck doing more wedding things." He said referring to Jason M, not Jason C. in an effort to head off the question

"I was talking about Cross not Taylor's brother." She said with an annoyed eye roll. "What happened?" Zeke just sighed at her question wishing she asked anything else.

"I realized that he was a dick and I really don't want to hang out with people who throw the underage out of windows. This would go really good with a pinot noir." Zeke said referring to the piece of cheese he threw in his mouth to keep from talking. It did not work. Zeke really wished he could get this conversation back onto food, something he was actually good at. Actually, Zeke wished he could have a glass of pinot noir now.

"Quit trying to change the subject." Amanda admonished in annoyance. "Why do you think someone that you have known since you were a toddler is a complete dick?" Zeke was shocked that she actually asked him that question. No one else has.

"You ever look at somebody else and realize your own mistakes?" He asked.

"I think everyone does eventually." She said in response right after she spat something into her napkin. "That was horrible."

"You're not a caviar person." He asked in amusement.

"No. Answer my question."

"I am, just give me a minute. I didn't like what he did to Marc. He is too good of A person to be treated as Jason's dirty little secret. As I watched, I realize that was exactly what I did to Penelope. The fear was not a good excuse. I was afraid of everybody finding out I was sleeping with the enemy and Jason was afraid of everybody finding out that he prefers sleeping with guys. He was the one who suggested that I keep my relationship with Penelope on the down low in the first place." Zeke explained with a tinge of regret.

"And you listened to him?" She asked incredulously.

"I was a terrified moron at the time. I was too busy trying to get everyone else to like me to the point where I didn't like myself. I did a lot of things I didn't like. The worst was probably using Sharpay as my cover." He said ruefully.

"Let me guess you got that idea from Jason too?" She spat out sardonically.

"More like the other way around. In his case, Jason was using some random girl to cover up that he was fooling around with Ryan and Ryan found out in the most spectacular way possible. In true Evans style, he kicked Jason in the balls when he found him screwing someone else. I only know about it because he called me at 2:00 AM to pick him up in the desert outside Lava Springs afterwards. Till this day he refuses to tell me how he got there." Zeke told her with a shiver.

"And I thought I had a history of picking idiots, poor Ryan." She said softly. That had Zeke wondering about her past relationships. Was that the real reason why she was so reluctant?

"In comparison, the Taylor thing probably is not that bad. According to a text message from Marc the bachelor party has become the official cheer up Ryan party." Again, he was surprised he was invited, but then again Chad doesn't have that many non-female friends.

"I don't think the breasts and G strings are going to work." Amanda said laughing as she took a drink of her water.

"It will if they're on a well endowed man, the G strings I mean. We're going to Purple Hills." Zeke instantly saw recognition on her face.

"I've gone there a lot. It's nice to go to a club where I will not be grouped by everyone there. Hey maybe you'll find a nice date for the wedding." She joked.

"I think I'm the straightest one of the four of us and even if I wasn't, if you're not there there's no one worth going home with." Amanda just rolled her eyes at his comment, not realizing how serious he was. He only wanted her and no one else. "I am just there for moral support. This is payback for fucking around on his sister. Besides, I'm going to be too busy with the cake and the caterers to actually enjoy the wedding and therefore I do not need a date." Which is exactly what he wanted, he may be okay with Chad marrying Sharpay but he did not want front row seats to the thing.

"I don't have a date either." She stammered out not looking at him. "If you want you can sit next to me."

"Sure." He said just as a frantic Sharpay with the babies walked into the room. Chad was following behind her.

"I need something fried or your cookies. Please tell me you brought cookies?" Sharpay said sitting down with Olivia still strapped to her chest. Chad had Isaac.

"No cookies, but try the coconut shrimp." Zeke said passing the only fried item on the table to Sharpay.

"That bad?" Amanda asked.

"The social worker was less invasive." Chad quipped.

"She asked us questions about our sex life. She asked about positions. This is actually really good." Sharpay said taking another bite as she started to calm down.

"She asked about the almost sex tape." Chad said as he tried one of the stuffed grape leaves.

"I want to kill her." Sharpay said most likely referring to Gabriella. Zeke has only seen heard that angry in the past when Gabriella was involved.

"Just remember she was in the middle of a nervous breakdown at the time and thought that you are having a threesome with her boyfriend." Zeke looked at Chad after Amanda spoke but he just shrugged. Maybe there was some truth to that rumor from high school after all. He wouldn't dare ask right now.

"I meant the Judge." Sharpay clarified. "Give me some good news."

"We have successfully eliminated all appetizer options involving raw cheese, tomatoes, and anything involving liver." Amanda answered flippantly.

"That works as long as we include the shrimp. It is not like we will have time to actually eat anything during the reception. Bring on the entrees." Sharpay said quickly taking away his chance to say anything else to Amanda about going to the wedding together informally. He wanted to know what her invitation meant but that would have to wait. They had six entrees to taste.

* * *

Why exactly did he let his future wife, former roommate, and almost brother in law talk him into going to a gay club for his bachelor party? If he could remember correctly, it would include vast amounts of guilt and Sharpay being scary. At least the food was good.

From what he could gather from Ryan in between various schemes of avoidance, his relationship fell apart with Taylor because she could not trust him. It was obvious to Chad that she could not trust Ryan because Chad fucked her over due to the entire Sharpay fiasco. With his marriage to Sharpay less than 48 hours away, he can't say that he regretted his decision except for how everything went down in the end. He was stupid to think that they could do a long-term relationship in the first place. It was even more idiotic to push away his feelings for Sharpay for so long. He can only say that he regretted hurting Taylor because it led to Chad watching a completely miserable Ryan. Even dancing with several hot guys was doing little to cheer him up.

Did he mention that he was watching Ryan be completely miserable, stone cold sober? His mom confiscated his fake ID and he was forced to wear the horrible under 21 wristband. Again, thankfully they had good food. For the first few hours, he had Marc to talk to between making out with his underage boyfriend that they somehow managed to sneak in. (Thank god Jimmy had a growth spurred over the last year and could now pass for 18.) Unfortunately, because of said under age boyfriend, Marc had to leave in time to get Jimmy home before curfew.

At this point in the evening Chad was spending his bachelor party making sure his fiancée's brother does not wake up in some stranger's bed or succumb to alcohol poisoning. He already failed miserably on the latter. Chad has no idea how many drinks Ryan has consumed; he lost count during Jell-O shots. It almost made him wish that his mother took Ryan's ID as well.

Zeke was no help at all. He was currently sitting at a table with a bunch of the best chefs in the city exchanging ideas. He personally thinks this is just because Zeke is looking for a new job so he does not have to work with the Dragon Baker again not that he can blame him. This left Chad alone at the table making his way through the tapas menu. (He was so going to have to go running in the morning. They did have a jogging stroller for a reason.) The dance floor was off limits right now. He didn't mind dancing with Marc or Ryan but anybody else would probably read too much into it. What can he say; he is hot and irresistible to humankind.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Asked a voice, sounding vaguely familiar causing Chad to roll his eyes. This was his fifth drink offer of the night. He always said no because who knew if he would run into another Richard. Chad looked up to see one of the few members of the A of U team that was not a complete dick to him or talked about who we screwed the night before in the most derogatory terms possible. Considering where they were, it made sense that Zachary never boasted about the many girls he screwed. Considering the nasty jokes that the other team mates made about that rumor involving Chad and Troy from high school, Chad could also understand why he never mentioned the many guys he screwed (if any) either. Their teammates were morons.

"Under age." Chad said holding up his arm to show the horrible neon wrist band. This usually scared most guys off.

"That's why I offered to buy." He jokes sitting next to Chad. "You could use the alcohol to loosen up a bit. I haven't seen you since January."

"I thought you just wanted to take away my virtue." He joked, although considering what happened last month with his own mother spiking his drink he was a little cautious about drinking anything that did not come straight from the can.

"Trust me it's obvious that you're here to play wing man". He said pointing to Zeke who was still completely surrounded by well looking men. He wanted to say something about that even if Zeke was not 100% heterosexual; he was too in love with Amanda to be interested. Then Chad realized with startling clarity that Zeke really was in love with Amanda. Chad wondered if she knew that.

"Besides everybody knows you are straight even if there were certain locker room jokes to the contrary." Zack remarked.

"Everybody assumes the same thing about you and they were not joking about you sleeping with your male best friend. Obviously, that assumption was inaccurate." Chad remarked taking another drink of his coke.

"Not everybody. Penelope has been trying to set me up with her ex boyfriend over there for months. She says he's a good person but they broke up when he came out." Chad had to look down at the table to keep from laughing. Trust Penelope to come up with the most creative revenge possible. "Even if you are not that straight, your girlfriend would rip off the balls of anybody who tried to lay a finger on you.

"Its fiancé and you're probably right." He said with a tiny shudder.

"I don't think it really counts as an engagement when you're not planning on getting married for three or four years." He said in reply finishing up his drink before calling the waiter over.

"The wedding is Friday. This is my bachelor party." Chad said with a smile. Zack just laughed.

"I can actually see that. Sharpay would let you have your night of drunken debauchery as long as she knew you will not go home with someone else. Then again you could just be here to make sure you're straight before the big day."

"Unfortunately, my mother who has moved back to New Mexico to shack up with her best friend, managed to take my fake ID before I left. She decided I got to be the designated driver at my own bachelor party." Zack was laughing harder at that point. "Also, I have kissed the guy before, it's no big deal."

"I knew that rumor about you and your high school best friend was true." He just placed his head on the table.

"Why does everybody think that Troy and I were sleeping together?" Chad asked in annoyance. Seriously, where did that rumor come from?

"Nothing happened?" Zack asked.

"He's like my brother. Actually, because our parents are getting married, he's going to be my stepbrother soon. We are also going to be sharing a half-sibling in about seven months. It would just be awkward." Chad said seriously wishing he took up the offer for alcohol at this point.

"I personally blame Gene Roddenberry for people getting friendship and romance confused. T'hy'la, just friends, really? He asked. Chad was just confused. "So who was it then?"

"Sharpay's twin brother." He said pointing to the blonde who was dancing with some guy in the corner. Chad was happy about that only because he was not drinking.

"I don't want to know." Zack said with a strange expression.

"The incest rumors are false." Chad said quickly figuring out why Zack was acting so strangely.

"Lots of people have a twin fetish. Your business, I don't judge. " That's when Chad decided to tell him the entire story, which ended with Zack laughing hysterically.

"We have to hang out more often. I need friends other than Penelope, especially because she has been avoiding everything campus related recently." Chad knew all about that. Richard was trying every dirty trick in the book to get Penelope not to testify including getting his friends to make her miserable.

"I'm surprised she's dragging me to her friend's wedding this weekend. Actually, I'm surprised she has friends outside of me since Penelope stopped talking to most of her high school friends. Then again she is not the only one keeping to themselves. I haven't seen you since you quit the team."

"Since most of the team hated me I didn't feel like visiting." Chad said with a shrug as he munched on an appetizer. He didn't feel like mentioning he no longer had a life outside of school because he has the twins to take care of.

"Besides you will get to see me this weekend, because that's my wedding she was talking about. We are friends now and she even helped Sharpay pick out her dress."

"That explains why she was so desperate for a date." Zack mumbled under breath. "The team never hated you. The guys were just jealous. In spite of being a technical sophomore and able to circumvent eligibility requirements you were still a first year student. You are a good player and we all hated you for that a little. Why did you quit the team?" He asked finally.

"You're not here to talk me into coming back?" Chad asked as a scowl appeared on his face. He was tired of people thinking that the only thing he was ever good at was basketball.

"No. I'm just curious to know why. Penelope and Amanda said it was not their story to tell which leads me to believe it was more than the NCAA scandal." He said softly.

"There were a lot of things. I stopped loving the game. I got tired of the competition and it just stopped being fun. It took me into college to realize that I was only playing because my father wanted me to. I got offers to play basketball at almost every Ivy League school in the country. I turned every single one down because Charles wanted me to follow in his footsteps. He had me convinced that I should only be good in basketball. When I was younger I loved playing especially when it was just me and my dad on the court. I now realize I loved that time so much because that was the only time my father really paid attention to me. I never wanted to be the basketball star but I loved my father and I wanted to make him happy. " Chad said soberly. "Now, I don't give a fuck."

"Good for you. My father was the same way. Although, in my case it was the only way I could get into college." Zack said taking a drink that arrived during his long story about the Ryan thing.

"What about an academic scholarship? I think you are the only other team member that I saw crack a book that wasn't for some Mickey Mouse class." Chad asked.

"I'll have you know that the history of Disney Animation was quite educational, as well as, the Cultural Impact of Mickey Mouse in Western Society." He joked but Chad would not be surprised if those were real classes. The school did offer philosophy classes involving Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, and the music of Tupac Shakur, so who knew. Considering his earlier comment, Zach probably took the Star Trek class. "My test scores were too bad even if my grades were good. It's the side effect of going to a poor school in the middle of nowhere. They don't teach to the test and I couldn't spend a small fortune on SAT prep. Basketball was much more import then academics at my high school and my lack of basic knowledge was very evident after I arrived here. I spent my first year utilizing the complimentary tutoring service for basketball players just to catch up. Besides even if I qualified, I doubt my father would let me take it." His words were bitter as he spoke.

"My father would probably be the same way if my mother didn't step in." Chad spat out just as bitterly. "The bastard has been messing with my life since before I was born. Even if I wanted to go back to playing basketball, I couldn't thanks to him." His bitterness was related more to Tiffany not being able to take care for children then Chad having to step in.

"What do you mean by that?" Zack questioned.

"You have read the papers?" Chad asked incredulously. His personal life has been on the front page of every paper and web page in New Mexico for months. He is surprise Zack didn't already know.

"I'm a biology and mathematics double major. When would I have time to read the papers?" He asked sarcastically.

"Good point. A few months after my parents divorced, my father got his barely legal girlfriend pregnant with twins. Of course, he doesn't tell me about it until he shows up to thanksgiving with his very pregnant girlfriend. Said girlfriend realizes he is a bastard who doesn't care about her or the kids and tries to leave. Because he is a bastard he pushed Tiffany down a flight of stairs putting her in a coma. Fortunately, the completely healthy babies were delivered via emergency caesarean a month early. Sharpay and I now have custody. Taking care of two children and being a fulltime student is all I can handle at the moment." Chad said before going back to his coke.

"I think I really do need to buy you that drink. You deserve it." He said as he started looking for a server. "Isn't that your brother in law?" Zack pointed to a very drunk and touchy feely Ryan that was being dragged out by someone that Chad did not recognize. Apparently, Ryan and Sharpay both react the same way to getting drunk which means they become extremely horny and uninhibited. He was so screwed.

"Fuck!" Chad exclaimed as he rushed up from his seat. Chad was pretty sure he was probably going to get arrested again for assault because the guy did not want to let go of Ryan. Sharpay would kill him if he got arrested before the wedding but she would also kill him if he let Ryan do something stupid.

Thankfully, Zack was there to help him wrangle another drunken Evans. Zeke was too busy furthering his culinary career to actually help. Zack pretended to be a very angry ex boyfriend who wanted to kiss and makeup. The guy backed away when Zack 'proved' that he was the Taylor that Ryan has been crying about the entire time by kissing Ryan in a way that almost looked pornographic. Thank god, Taylor is a unisex name Chad thought to himself as they poured an extremely sloshed Ryan into the back seat of the car but not before he kisses both Chad and Zack again. Chad thought about the many ways his girlfriend was going to kill him as Chad waited for Zeke to come to the car after he sent him and Pay a text message.

* * *

Sharpay honestly wondered whose idea it was to do a lingerie/sex toys shower. Actually, the lingerie shower wasn't that bad of an idea. It was not exactly as if she had time to buy new sexy underwear when she was being thrown up upon. She barely had time to actually where the stuff right now and she did need something for Santa Fe.

The problem with having this type of bridal shower is no one told Caroline. Because Caroline didn't know that she would be getting presents that made Sharpay cover Kerri's eyes and be grateful that baby Pay was asleep, Caroline invited Chad's aunts (both sides of the family) and grandmother to the festivities.

"Whose idea was it for this to be a lingerie and sex Toy bridal shower?" Sharpay asked angrily once Chad's family was safely out of the house. She was personally surprised Aunt Claudia did not leave after Sharpay opened Penelope's sex toys gift bag filled with chocolate body paint, cherry flavored edible underwear, handcuffs, silk scarves, and something phallic that require batteries and had straps. They actually stuck around for the chocolate to die for cheesecake and didn't say anything negative except about Chad taking Sharpay's last name. Sharpay blames the Jell-O shots for that conversation.

"Like I have time for sexy lingerie when I have a two month old throwing up on me." Sharpay hissed.

"You did say you wanted the full wedding experience." Penelope said with a smirk as she had one of the remaining Jell-O shots. Sharpay was sure she had something to do it this but didn't say anything because she knew how hard Penelope was having it recently. Richard's defense team was currently smearing Penelope's reputation by manipulating the local media. Sharpay was being as nice as possible to the girl because she felt guilty. If Sharpay wasn't such a coward and reported her rape to the police when it happened, Richard would not have been around to try it again with Penelope. It was too late to do the right thing now.

"It was my idea." Kim said from the couch drinking ginger ale. The fact that Kim spent half the party being 'sick' will not save her from Sharpay's anger. "Also, I had no idea that Caroline was inviting Chad's family.

"You knew that Chad's mother would be here if nothing else. I thought she was going to throw up when she saw the crotchless underwear." Sharpay yelled again. Considering Amanda looked extremely sheepish Sharpay were sure that is where the gift came from. She had no idea, because Amanda did not show her the cards on purpose except for Penelope's.

"She is two months pregnant. Anything makes her nauseous right now. Besides who do you think gave you the massage oil gift set and all those books on sex positions?" Amanda told her poignantly causing Sharpay's mouth to drop wide open.

"What?" Sharpay asked almost stuttering she was so surprised. That's when Amanda showed her the list of who gave what. She was glad she was not holding a baby when she found out Aunt Claudia was the one who gave her a $200 gift certificate to the premier adults store in the city because she would have dropped wherever she was holding in absolute shock.

"We had to find some way to have some fun because Chad said no strippers." Penelope responded as she handed Sharpay one of the leftover virgin margaritas. It was half melted but that was okay. She was purposely staying sober at her party because she had kids to take care of, mostly anyway. She had to drink something during the last name argument, but she stuck to one glass of wine.

"That's so unfair. He's out clubbing with Marc, my brother, and Zeke, when I am stuck here with his kids as my so-called friends embarrass me in front of my future family." Sharpay said with a pout.

"First we had no idea the whole family was coming. Considering the present you received from the family I don't they were that shocked by everything." Amanda pointed out. "Also, your boyfriend is going to a gay club for his bachelor party to cheer up your brother. I don't think you have to worry about him hooking up with someone else. Finally, Caroline confiscated his fake ID"

"Just in case I arranged for a chaperone." Penelope said with a laugh and a smirk that Sharpay did not completely understand. "My date for the wedding is there making sure that nobody does anything worth getting arrested for." Penelope said cryptically.

"It's good that you're dating again." Sharpay said quickly trying to be nice.

"Don't congratulate me. I'm just functioning as a cover. Zack is on the basketball team at A of U and very very gay. He is a friend." Sharpay just kept her mouth shut not sure what to say. Fortunately for Sharpay her phone rang at that moment. She instantly recognized that it was Taylor's ring tone. Considering it was 2:18 AM in DC, she had no choice but to pick up the phone.

"Taylor what's wrong?" Sharpay said automatically into the phone. She was using her head phones because she hated speaking into an iPhone the norm away. Sharpay has been calling her nonstop for the last two days and has not received a return call. The fact that she was calling now scared Sharpay severely.

"Nothing is wrong." Taylor said this in a way that told Sharpay that she was lying.

"Its 2:19 AM in DC. You have not returned any of my phone calls since I found out about you breaking up with my brother. Something is obviously wrong."

"He broke up with me." She said defensively.

"After you pushed him away, if you explained that you were going to DC to find your real father Ryan would have understood. I would have killed him if he missed my wedding but I would have understood eventually and Ryan would be there for you. You know that he would support you in any way that you need, if you just let him. He loves you." Sadness permeated her voice as Sharpay's spoke but that did not make her words less true. The line stayed silent for several moments most likely as Taylor reflected on this truth.

"How did you know that is why I am here?" Taylor asked finally in near shock. By this point sharpay passed one earbud to Kim so she could listen in on the conversation.

"Because that's what I would have done in your situation. We're not that different." Sharpay said quietly. "How's everything going? Did you find him?"

"I know who he is now but I don't want to talk about it." Taylor said with a voice filled with exhaustion and sadness. "The reason why I called is…"

"If you need bail money, I'll call Caroline." Sharpay interrupted.

"I'm not in jail but your brother might be by this point. He left me a drunken voice mail about an hour ago. I checked it when I woke up to go to the bathroom." Sharpay was not sure that she believed that but she kept her mouth shut. She was getting better at that.

"So instead of calling Ryan to make sure that he is okay and thus proving that you see him as more than a human vibrator, you want me to do it?" Sharpay said sarcastically.

"Maybe." Taylor said sheepishly.

"Fine, its better that I do it any way sense you were too afraid to show that you actually care. I know that you're going through something right now…" Sharpay started but was cut off.

"You have no idea what's going on." Sharpay instantly recognize the voice of a person on the verge of tears. Taylor was seconds from falling apart.

"I would if you would just tell me what the fuck is going on?" Sharpay screamed as the line went dead. "She hung up on me." Sharpay said angrily.

"Why does she have to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of my wedding? Sharpay mumbled to herself as she opened the text message that came in when she was talking to Taylor. It was from Chad telling her that they were on their way back to the condo. That was one less thing to worry about. She turned around to see that Kim already had her phone out.

"Who are you calling?" Sharpay asked.

"My stepmom. She needs to know what is going on with her daughter. Something's not right with Taylor. Unfortunately, I think she's too pregnant to fly to Washington. You?" Kim asked.

"The option of last resort but at least this mean she will not be at the wedding. The things I do for my brother." Sharpay said just before the person on the other side picked up. "Hi Gabriella, how do you feel about paying Taylor back for flying across the country to keep you from making a fool of yourself?"

To be continued.


	45. Let Us Hope Nobody Ends Up Black & Blue

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. To suchrandomness, who sincerely wishes that Chad and Sharpay could get through this wedding without anything bad happening, that is not going to happen. When it comes to a Chad and Sharpay family gathering, the most you can hope for is that no one dies.

Now to the matrimony event of the Albuquerque spring season.

Warning: Underage drinking and situations involving relatives that make you want to squirm under the seat.

* * *

**Chapter 45: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Let Us Hope Nobody Ends Up Black and Blue. Part one**

Since Marc was three years old, he has lived around weddings constantly. No, he is not just talking about his mother's several trips down the aisle with various stepfathers that rarely stuck around for more than a few months. He has been helping his mother make other people's wedding day dreams come true since his mother forced him to fill in as ring boy when his cousin Teddy threw up on the mother of the bride's shoes at the Horowitz-Gomez wedding.

Over the years, Marc has seen some true wedding disasters involving everything from drunken brides to the groom getting caught with the best man in the coat closet (fortunately that did not occur at the same wedding). Before today, the worst was three years ago at the Cook-Sanchez wedding (no relation to Chad) involving an unhappy mother calling Immigration on her future son in law. After it was proven that Mr. Sanchez's family has been in the United States a good 152 years longer than the Cooks, the new Mrs. Sanchez stopped speaking to that entire side of the family.

Honestly, Marc should have expected this wedding to be a catastrophe from the very beginning. Any family get together involving Chad and Sharpay seemed destined to go to hell. The best he could hope for was no one dying. The fact that they had less than two weeks to pull the entire thing together should have been the first sign that this would be a catastrophe, other than the parties involved. His mother would normally refuse to do any wedding when she had less than a month.

The fact that Sharpay refuses to have a nice simple wedding was the next indicator that this was going to be a disaster. 'Simple' and 'Sharpay' were the antithesis of each other. Even though he has only known Sharpay Evans since the beginning of the school year, really he should have known better. He has seen her dorm room. 160 people, a four star menu, and a cake that was something out of a Food Network challenge. The only thing going in his favor was money was no object. It was easier to expedite certain things if you are willing to pay twice as much.

The fact that this wedding probably has more people not allowed to come to the wedding under any circumstance than actual guests was another indication that this would be the wedding debacle of the Albuquerque Spring season. (His ex boyfriend being number one on the list of people he did not want to crash this wedding.)

20 minutes until the cake cutting and Mr. Danforth has yet to show up to his own son's wedding much to the displeasure of the county sheriff's office who were discreetly monitoring the site in case the fugitive showed up. They were also there to enforce the restraining order against the soon to be former Mrs. Bolton. Marc was actually expecting her to show up with a shotgun considering the crazy packages she has been sending Chad's mom. They were all silently praying that Sharpay's mother would continue to be in the dark about the festivities until she read the society page tomorrow morning.

If Marc was as smart as his genius level IQ would imply, he would have run the other way screaming when Amanda begged him to help plan Sharpay and Chad's big day. However, as his experience dating Jason Cross has shown him, intelligent people can do very stupid things. Agreeing to plan this wedding was a very stupid thing. He has never done a wedding completely by himself before, let alone in Albuquerque with very few days to pull it off. Yet the thought of having enough money to buy his own car this summer without being his mother's personal slave was enough to get him to agree to this insanity.

Considering everything that has gone wrong today, he is not surprised that Jason Cross has successfully managed to get around Jose's security team and was sneering at him from the back. Considering all the uninvited guests that could have crashed the wedding Jason was probably the least damaging to the new Mr. and Mrs. Evans who were currently dancing inappropriately to the Beyonce version of _At Last_. Of course, this was the most personally damaging to him.

"Jason you have 2 minutes before I have Jose and his 'should have been a sumo wrestler' colleague escort you off the premises." Marc said as calmly as possible as he approached his former boyfriend. Any feelings of affection that Marc had for Jason at one time were replaced with pure anger at the thought that his former significant other was going to fuck up his almost perfect wedding.

"I just want to talk to you." Jason said as he grabbed Marc's wrist.

"Well, I really don't want to talk to you. I am working right now. I am Chad and Sharpay's wedding planner. My job is to make sure that this is an event truly worldly of Mrs. Sharpay Evans. You need to leave." Marc demanded in a whisper as he pulled his hand away from his former lover. He kept his voice low in a conscious effort to prevent a scene. Considering how many people were gaping at him, that wasn't happening.

"I wouldn't have to interrupt while you are working if you would just return my phone calls. I want you to give me another chance." Jason whined as he tried to pull him closer to him. Marc just stayed back.

"I can't give you another chance because I've already moved on. I wouldn't want to anyway. I could use some Jose Cuervo right now." That last part was the code to let security know that they had a situation via the earpiece he was wearing. Though, Marc could really use some alcohol right now. Unfortunately, even though he was the wedding planner, he was not allowed anywhere near the open bar. The only alcohol anybody under 21 was allowed to consume was the one glass each of champagne Chad and Sharpay had during the toast. Everyone else under 21 (or very pregnant) had sparkling cider. Marc personally thinks that one drink was only allowed so certain family members on Sharpay's side would know that she wasn't getting married at 19 because she was pregnant. (If they didn't figure it out by that point, Sharpay shouting at Chad's grandmother that her uterus was nonfunctional clued everyone else in about 20 minutes after that.)

"Let me guess, your back with your teenage fuck toy. That was quick." Jason spat out bitterly.

"Me breaking up with you had nothing to do with Jimmy. I can't be with somebody who is not comfortable enough to be their self." At this point, Marc gave up all pretense of keeping this from becoming a spectacle. His only hope was Chad and Sharpay were so preoccupied with each other that they would not notice what was going on in the foyer. What was taking Jose so long?

"If you ever considered Chad your friend, you will walk away right now so that he can have a good wedding." Marc said almost pleading. Thankfully, back up came in the form of Amanda's almost boyfriend Zeke.

"Amanda told me to check on you. According to your schedule, you're supposed to be cut up my artistic creation known as a wedding cake in 15 minutes." Marc forgot all about that. He was headed to set up everything for the cake cutting ceremony when he saw Jason lurking in the back. "I can take care of this." Zeke said grabbing his former friend by the collar.

"Thanks, I think Jose will be along soon anyway." Marc said before running away as fast as he could to the beautiful cake. If he ever had the misfortune of doing a wedding in Albuquerque again, he would recommend Zeke. Zeke was definitely skilled when it came to cakes. The sugar butterflies looked real.

The calmness that Marc felt when looking at the cake went away, as he heard Kim and her boyfriend screaming at their son. This shouldn't surprise him, the little brat was known for causing chaos. Now Marc watched helplessly as the now semi naked Bolton boy made his way to the beautiful chocolate fountain that Amanda forced him to include. "It will keep the guests occupied during the pictures," Amanda said.

Now it was a chocolate mess after the two year old ran right into the table, knocking the fountain onto the floor. He was just thankful at that moment that super bride forced him to place the wedding cake and the chocolate fountain on separate tables. His only consolation was the two year old responsible for several gallons of chocolate falling onto the hard wood floors of the A of U ballroom was not injured. It would be a shame if anybody else ended up hospitalized during the wedding festivities. One was enough and that was before the ceremony even started.

* * *

**31 Hours Earlier**

The first thing Ryan noticed when he woke up that morning was the vast amounts of pink and purple surrounding him. The second thing he noticed was the extremely loud crying of a small child. At least this told him that he most likely did make it back to Sharpay's condo last night. He was staying in Kerri's bedroom because the teenager was spending the weekend at Jackie's house and Ryan did not feel like being interrogated by his father about the Taylor thing. This was so Aunt Natalie could stay in the condo's guest room. She was Darby's sister but she was the complete antithesis of the evil bitch formally known as mom. Considering she hasn't been on speaking terms with her sister sensed the first Bush administration it was safe to invite her to the festivities.

The sound of baby Pay crying made him notice the throbbing pain in his head. A crying baby and a horrible hangover were not very compatible. How much did he drink last night? He really didn't remember that much except he may or may not have kissed a guy named Taylor. Fortunately, he noticed a bottle of Tylenol and water sitting on the nightstand. He quickly utilized both before he even noticed the condescending note underneath that could only come from his sister.

_Seriously, Ryan, only one member of the family is allowed to be the victim of rohypnol. I would ask you what you were thinking but Chad reminded me of what happened at the beginning of the school year that led to the almost sex tape incident. Thankfully, you had your own night in shiny basketball shorts to save you from your own personal Richard. I should just be thankful that you did not get toasted at the actual ceremony._

It was obvious that Sharpay was not happy and was only being held back by her future husband. Ryan was never more grateful for his sister marrying one of his friends than at that moment. He would think that Sharpay was being overly dramatic in typical Sharpay Evans fashion but considering he did not remember practically anything from the night before that may not be the case.

Once the room stopped spinning and the Tylenol kicked in, he grabbed his travel bag. He seriously needed to brush his teeth. He was sure one of those travel bottles of mouthwash could not deal with the awful taste in his mouth.

By the time he was dressed, his head was well enough that he was willing to deal with the wrath of Sharpay. She was sitting at the table next to Penelope as she fed Olivia her bottle. At least Ryan thought that it was Olivia due to the pink T shirt and shorts the child was wearing. Although knowing Sharpay, anything was possible. It was more surprising that his sister was sitting next to Penelope without a physical or verbal altercation occurring. It was a sign of the apocalypse.

Unfortunately, they were bonding over the stupidity of their mutual former boyfriends. Today's subject of irritation was Richard. Considering the cursing coming from Penelope, Ryan decided it was in his best interest to stay back in the hallway for a few minutes especially considering that Penelope just ripped the Albuquerque Times to shreds.

"I know Richard is a D-I-C-K but you don't need say those sorts of things in front of Isaac." Ryan had to stifle a laugh.

"I think I've heard Chad say worse things about his father." Penelope argued back.

"Yes, but not in front of the babies." She said motioning to the child in her arms and Alex who was sitting in a high chair next to Penelope. Considering the sounds that he was hearing, Kim was probably in the master bathroom being the victim of baby sickness. Just the thought alone made him want to throw up himself. He certainly was still feeling queasy.

"What did you-know-who do this time bad enough for you to take it out on the poor newspaper?" Sharpay asked.

"Just his latest attempt at defamation of character. Apparently, I am a home wrecking slut who got the starring role in last year's community theater production because of my excellent oral skills and I'm not talking about delivering lines." Penelope said darkly as she threw back an entire glass of orange juice. Ryan wondered if it was laced with some sort of alcohol.

"That's laughable. Maybe if they were saying that about Troy, I might actually find it halfway plausible. Our director was more gay then Marc. Even I will admit you were better for that particular part than I was." Okay now that was definitely shocking.

"Did I just walk into a parallel dimension? Also, nobody says no to a blow job so the rumor is somewhat possible." Ryan said walking in, earning him dark looks from his sister.

"Not in front of the baby. I really don't want to have to explain to the social worker why my children's first words are expletives. I'm already mad at you for your behavior yesterday." His sister said before explaining everything in excruciating detail resulting in Penelope laughing hysterically. "The only reason why I'm not hurting you is because you gave me a means to not have Gabriella at my wedding." Sharpay chided. If his hangover ravaged mind was working Ryan would have asked her to clarify but he didn't have a chance to when Chad walked into the room.

"It's the same universe as last time except Sharpay is now trying to be a better person because we have children and you were a drunken idiot last night. I seriously wish we had a video of your stupidity yesterday." Chad said bringing in Olivia dressed in a WNBA basketball jersey. Ryan would roll his eyes but it would probably bring the headache back. It was going to be a long two days.

"What I don't understand is why Richard is trying so hard to completely destroy your character?" Sharpay asked as she kissed both Olivia and Chad on the cheek as he sat down next to her.

"Claudette Colvin." Chad said quickly as he unsuccessfully tried to pour himself a glass of juice while holding the baby, fortunately Penelope helped him out.

"Who?" Ryan asked.

"Claudette Colvin refused to give her seat to a white woman in Montgomery Alabama nine months before Rosa Parks did and was just as quickly arrested. Unfortunately, she was a feisty 15 year old, pregnant, and unmarried. Therefore, the PTBs felt she wouldn't make a great poster child for the movement. That's why Outcast wrote a song called Rosa Parks and Claudette Colvin is relegated to a footnote in my mother's legal text books. Obviously Richard is trying to discredit Penelope either to make the jury not believe Penelope's story or to get the district attorney's office so worry about the whole thing that she decides to drop charges before the case even makes it to trial." Everybody just looked at Chad in shock for a moment. Ryan was still too hung over to understand what he said.

"So, I read my mom's legal textbooks a lot as a child. I get bored easily." Chad said defensively.

"Enough of the history lesson. I thought we were supposed to be here at nine to get our wedding day assignments." Penelope said pouring herself more orange juice.

"We will as soon as Marc and Amanda get here and Kim stops doing whatever in the master bathroom." Sharpay told everyone.

"We might be here for days." Chad mumbled under breath just as they heard a knock at the door. It was Amanda and Marc with fresh pastries.

"Sorry we're late. We had to check on the cake but we brought food." Marc said walking into the kitchen after Ryan was forced to get the door.

"Oh, I'm sure you had to check the cake." Penelope Rolled her eyes as everybody sat around the kitchen table looking just as skeptical.

"We better start without Kim. I can catch her up later." Marc said as he passed out schedules to everyone in the room that essentially had every single moment from now to the wedding micromanage. Marc reminded him of Taylor.

Ryan was personally too hung over to deal with picking up relatives and Troy from the Airport. He'd much rather figure out what happened last night but he knew enough not to get his sister angry right now or ever. At least he was picking up some of the relatives he can actually tolerate. Aunt Natalie was cool and much saner than her sister. That is why she was invited to the wedding when Ryan is pretty sure his dad gave the guards permission to shoot Darby on sight. Judging by everybody's expression and the yelling that followed nobody was happy with the schedule.

"Why can't I keep the babies with me?" Sharpay asked instantly.

"Because we can't risk the twins getting your absolutely wonderful very expensive wedding dress dirty before the ceremony. It's bad enough that we run the risk with Kim. Why do you think I ordered three versions of her dress?" Marc responded quickly.

"Fuck you, Marc." Kim yelled from the bathroom.

"I know you're sick from spawn of Bolton but the babies don't need to hear that." Sharpay argued back. "Fine, whatever." Sharpay said to Marc with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Why do I have babysitting duties during the actual rehearsal?" Penelope asked.

"What I want to know is why the rehearsal is before the rehearsal dinner?" Chad asked quickly.

"Because you're the only person who's not part of the actual ceremony that Sharpay will trust with her children." Marc explained to Penelope before turning to Chad.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment. Though, I'm bringing back up." Penelope said with a sigh.

"The reason why the rehearsal dinner is happening before the dinner is because the rehearsal dinner is essentially a get together for family before the wedding. Also considering your recent track record, I don't want to give anybody alcohol before the rehearsal. Actually I don't want to give anybody alcohol before the wedding." Marc said with another sigh.

"Good call." Chad said looking at Ryan. It was really going to be a long wedding.

* * *

Chad really did not understand why they were having a rehearsal. All he had to do was stand on the top of the steps without throwing up and remember about half a page of lines that he was writing himself. He was also pretty sure his soon to be wife could make it down the aisle without tripping over her shoes. However, if Chad learned nothing else from last year's school musical, he would know that Sharpay was just a little bit of a perfectionist when it came to any production. This wedding was obviously a production of epic proportion and everything had to be Sharpay Evans perfect.

His high school drama teacher would have been proud if she would have been well enough to see her star pupil get married. Unfortunately, the chemo made that impossible. Sharpay found out just before this crazy rehearsal started and she was not happy. Chad is pretty sure she was crying but thanks to Marc's insane minute by minute schedule he didn't have time to comfort his girlfriend let alone have a nice long chat.

He wouldn't get to later on because certain friends who will remain nameless have decided to enforce the ridiculous tradition of the bride and groom needing to stay separate the night before the wedding. He pointed out that he would most likely fall asleep during the ceremony if he was unable to spend the night with his girlfriend because there was no way he would be able to fall asleep without Sharpay. Even the threat of a puffy eyed groom and bride could not persuade her crazy friends.

"After you make it down the aisle and your father hands you over to Chad, I'm going to ask. 'Who gives this bride?'" Judge Suarez said as she explained the ceremony. Marc said it was rare for a judge to come to rehearsal but then this particular judge has known Chad since he was a little kid. Even if she was not officiating, she would probably be at the wedding.

"That makes Sharpay sound like my property." Chad remarked under breath.

"It's tradition. Just ignore it." Amanda said with an annoyed sigh from a few feet away from him.

"It's stupid, especially considering I'm taking her last name." Chad argued back.

"If you think about it, Caroline should be giving you away." Troy remarked with a snicker.

"Comments like that will make me almost wish that I asked Ryan to be my best man instead." Chad said with an eye roll. He loved Troy and was glad his best friend was there for his wedding but sometimes he just wanted to smack him upside the head. This was one of those times. Although this is nothing compared to the snide comments he heard from Troy during the tux fitting. Chad was just glad Ryan was there to deflect some of the jokes. His antics of the night before were a prime target for ridicule. Is it wrong for Chad to hope something really bad will happen so they could avoid the roasting he would receive from the so called best friend at the rehearsal dinner?

"Troy shut up or I'm sitting you next to Mr. Kim at the reception." Sharpay said with her trademark 'freeze your balls off' glare.

"Fine." Troy said with a sigh.

"We can leave that part out of the ceremony. Even I think it's arcane. I assume that you also want me to leave out that 'forever hold your peace' part as well?" The judge asked looking slightly annoyed.

"That would probably be best," Mr. Evans said out loud before mumbling under breath, "especially if Darby decides to crash the ceremony."

"Forget Darby, Aunt Claudia would just as easily take advantage of the situation and she's actually on the guest list. She's still upset about the last name thing." His mother mentioned as she slowly drank her ginger ale. Chad was positive he hasn't seen his mother without saltines or ginger ale since he found out about her pregnancy.

"Okay, good point. It would probably be best to avoid that considering the circumstances. I can always start with a speech about the nature and importance of love." The judge suggested.

"Couldn't you just stick to the bare minimum? It will be a small miracle if Caroline or I can make it through the entire ceremony without throwing up." Kim suggested.

"I think Kim is right. Even if the pregnant ladies managed not to get nauseous during the length of a traditional ceremony, you know the twins are not going to make it that long." Chad said sure that Sharpay would be upset about not having her dream ceremony.

"Chad is right. The longer the ceremony is the more likely it is for something to go wrong." As if on cue Kim threw up on one of the rental chairs. "I would just like to get through one celebration without anybody being arrested or hospitalized." Sharpay said in frustration.

"Let's take a break while the chair people fix that." Marc said in frustration as Kim ran to the bathroom with Troy trailing behind. "Do you think anybody would notice if I put trash cans up front?" Marc said turning to Amanda as they continued walking up the stairs to Evans hall.

"If you set them up throughout the tent, I don't think anyone would notice." Chad said as he sat down in one of the lobby couches once they made it inside. He was just happy to be somewhere slightly warmer. Even though it was March, it was 48° outside which is why they had to get a tent. Thankfully the event planning department at the Evans Corporation was well connected.

"Although it doesn't matter if Kim does not get sick during the ceremony if she gets trapped in the bathroom before it even starts." Marc said in annoyance. "I know Kim has been your BFF since she moved to Albuquerque and you bonded as little girls terrorizing the same uptight country club but you're going to have to accept that the new little Bolton in her uterus is making her too sick to perform her maid of honor duties." Marc said bluntly. Sharpay did not look happy.

"You're telling me I should replace my best friend as my maid of honor? The woman who has been at my side through crazy boyfriends and even crazier mothers," Sharpay practically yelled.

"Sharpay calm down. Nobody's telling you to do anything because we all know it takes serious drugs to make you do something you do not want to do." Amanda joked but this just made Sharpay frowned even more.

"You know that Kim is only doing this because she is your best friend. We all know that this has been a very rough pregnancy for her. She's pushing herself because she doesn't want to disappoint you." Chad said holding Sharpay's hand for support.

"You're right. It will be better for her and the baby if she didn't have so much pressure on her. I'll talk to her as soon as she's done being sick." Sharpay's said with a sigh of acquiescence.

"So I guess this means I've been promoted." Amanda said with a bright smile.

"You know I love you, but I would feel better if Ryan was my personal honor or best man as the case may be." Sharpay said trying not to hurt her feelings. It didn't work.

"It's fine, he's your brother." Amanda said as her smile faded slightly. She was obviously not happy about that.

"I would point out that usually you're supposed to have a woman be your maid of honor but that would be lost on you. You let your son play with dolls." Marc said reading something on his clipboard.

"I only do that because Darby was a complete bitch every time Ryan wanted to play tea party or Barbies with me. I'm trying to be the complete opposite of her. Your point is?" Sharpay said with hands on her hip.

"You don't care what other people think. I like that about you." Chad had to keep himself from laughing out loud. If Marc only knew how long it took Sharpay to get to this point he would be shocked.

"Will Troy be okay walking down the aisle with another guy?" Marc asked.

"I really don't care what he is okay with. He is the reason why I lost my first choice at maid of honor. He's the one who got her pregnant, he should suffer some of the consequences. It's not fair that Kim is the only one being punished." Sharpay said indignantly.

"I agree with Sharpay. Besides maybe I should just make Amanda my best person anyway. She has less material to skewer me with at the rehearsal dinnerin." That got a smile from Amanda.

"That may not be a bad deal. We can just switch everything around and it would be easier for Kim to run to the bathroom if she was on the other side." Marc said thoughtfully. "Now all you have to do is tell everyone."

"I will talk to Ryan. I need to talk to him about his stupid behavior last night anyway." Sharpay said getting up from the couch.

"I thought you were going to do it. Why do I have to tell Troy and Kim that they've lost their position?" Chad asked his girlfriend in slight irritation.

"Because you and Troy have known each other since potty training." Amanda supplied.

"Please, it was earlier than that." Sharpay scoffed. "There's a picture of a six month old Troy sitting in his car seat next to a newborn Chad as Jack drove him home from the hospital." Sharpay was not joking about that picture. According to Grandma Sanchez, after he was born Charles went to the bar to get completely smashed out of his mind and was not available to drive his new child and wife home from a hospital. Even though she had several siblings that could have done the honor, his mother called Jack. Of course, Chad didn't find any of this out up until a couple weeks ago when he was sent to calm down his grandmother after a particularly bad fight with his mother about the baby. Apparently, she was shocked this did not happen earlier. Nobody was surprised that his mother was now with Jack.

"Is anyone else surprised that Troy's parents stayed married as long as they did?" Amanda asked and they all just nodded in agreement.

* * *

"I thought you said that the baby sickness is lessening." Troy said with a sigh as he held back his girlfriend's hair.

"I lied. If I told you that I spend 90% of the day in the toilet I doubt that you would be willing to stay at Berkeley for the rest of this semester." Kim answered truthfully as she sat down on the cold bathroom tiles.

"You're right about that." He said sitting down next to her. "I'm not going to let you go through this alone."

"It's only eight more weeks. Besides, I'm not alone. Your father lives next door with Caroline who shares her special ant-nausea tea with me. Even though my dad is still mad at me for disgracing the family name again by having another child out of wedlock, he comes by every other night to drop off dinner." Kim said in her defense.

"I thought he was starting to be less angry?" Troy asked. He really did not want to have to dodge punches again.

"Slightly, he's angry at me for not waiting to have sex until I got married, which is highly hypocritical considering what he has done with my stepmother before he put a ring on it. Although he really wants to kill my former gynecologist for forgetting to mention that if you take the pill to treat another medical issue you need to use a backup contraceptive." Troy felt the same way but then they wouldn't have Alex or a new baby on the way. So, he could not be that mad.

"I can deal with my dad. I can't deal with your dad if he's freaking out over you leaving school halfway through this semester. It's going to be bad enough when he finds out you are taking next year off as 'paternity leave'." Kim said with a sigh.

"I'm an acting major. Do I really need to spend four years in a classroom for that?" Troy asked her.

"You do if you want your teaching certificate, you need to be able to afford food and shelter." Kim shot back quickly.

"I think that will be covered by your gigantic Trust Fund." Troy said bluntly.

"My trust fund could disappear at any time, Troy. Companies go bankrupt. Investments are stolen. People get swindled. One word, Halliburton." Apparently Kim was still was very paranoid about what happened when she was in New York.

"Valid point, we're still going to be in the San Francisco area. There are lots of workshops, acting classes, and productions I can take part in that will still allow me to be around for nap time and story hour. I can also take classes online. Then there's always what Caroline did. She waited until Chad was in kindergarten to finish up. I can go back to school later, you only get to see your kids grow up once." Troy said truly realizing for the first time how much having a child really did change his life.

"Also unlike her you can always take a few classes online every semester to stay current." Kim suggested.

"Exactly."

"It's not a completely terrible idea. I'm probably going to have to take next year off too." Kim said in acquiescence. "Sharpay is talking about doing the same thing except she's going to go to classes part time and be a intern at the Evans corporation. She's actually going to get credit for that. Because her dad owns the company, no one's going to say anything to her if she puts a playpen in her office." He could easily see Sharpay doing something like that.

"It's going to be more than a playpen. Vince is building his grandchildren the ultimate nursery." Chad said laughing as he walked into the bathroom.

"What are you doing in the ladies bathroom?" Troy asked his best friend.

"Bringing the nauseous one her daily dose of ginger ale and saltines, I also brought mouthwash." He said taking the bottle out of his backpack/baby bag.

"Do I want to know why you carry mouthwash everywhere you go?" Troy asked.

"Not really." Chad said with a shrug.

"The baby has decided that it does not like physics class and therefore it makes me run out of there at least once a period. Chad usually follows behind with ginger ale and mouthwash." Troy frowned at that. He should be the one helping his girlfriend when she was sick not Chad. Instead, he was 1000 miles away.

"This is getting too much. Sharpay is going to kill me if I throw up on her during the ceremony." Kim said as she rested her head on the cold steel of the door.

"She loves you too much to do that. She will wait until after the baby is born." Chad joked. "Seriously, she won't do anything worse than send you her dry cleaning bill."

"She will also bring it up constantly for the next 20 years." Kim said with a sigh as she slowly sipped her ginger ale. "She still hasn't forgiven me for accidentally filming a certain incident and emailing it to Troy thus providing Gabriella with access to the almost sex tape that she posted on YouTube. I think it would be just better if I cheered from the sidelines." Cam said looking sad and nauseous.

"That's probably for the best." Troy said squeezing his girlfriend's arm knowing how hard saying something like.

"Can you talk to her for me? She listens to you before she starts yelling." Troy was expecting Chad to panic when Kim asked him to do this but he seemed unbelievably calm.

"You two have been best friends for way too long. Sharpay came to the same conclusion. She was worried that you are pushing yourself too hard and it would not be good for you or her future goddaughter." Troy just rolled his eyes at the goddaughter thing.

"It was Sharpay who came to that conclusion all on her own?" Kim asked skeptically.

"Okay it was Marc and I who came to that conclusion but we convinced her to go with it." Chad said shrugging his shoulders.

"This is why I know you're my friend." Kim said with a laugh.

"So who am I walking down the aisle with now?" Troy asked.

"Possibly Ryan." Chad said with a smirk.

"It makes sense. Ryan is Sharpay's other best friend and you're like a brother to Chad." Kim told him.

"That's option one. The other option would be to switch everything around with Amanda being my best person and Kim can be my other attendant." Chad said quickly as Troy frowned.

"So, I go from being your best man to Sharpay's bridesmaid?" Troy asked trying not to sound hurt.

"Actually you would be Sharpay's best man and Ryan will be her best brother." Chad said with another smirk.

"I say we switch sides just to give Sharpay's bigot of a great aunt a heart attack. Personally I'm surprised she is coming to the wedding."

"Which crazy family member are you talking about?" Chad asked with a look of concern.

"Aunt Clara. The woman is straight out of the 1940 south. She referred to me once as Sharpay's yellow friend when she thought nobody could hear her." Troy's mouth opened in shock but Chad just rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry we have security for that sort of thing. Considering how off of my family mistakenly assumed Amanda was Sharpay during the first family get together I am prepared for the worst. My family can usually keep their mouths shut when they're sober. This is why I did not want an open bar. This wedding is going to be a disaster." Chad said putting his head in his hands.

"Probably, but I will try to make it easier on everyone and eliminate the possibility of a bridesmaid tossing her cookies on everyone. I think it would be better if I just sat up front, probably near a trash can." Kim said trying to be reassuring

"Now I have to deal with Sharpay freaking out about uneven numbers." Chad shot back.

"Not exactly, it became obvious when I threw up twice during this morning's dress fitting that we needed a backup plan. Now that the girls are on your side of the aisle I am sure you might be willing to use my understudy." Kim said with a smile. Troy was not sure who she was talking about but Chad obviously did.

"I'm going to get castrated for this, but she did deal with the entire almost basketball team being a dick to her because she supported my decision to leave." Chad mumbled under breath.

"She's not going to do that, Sharpay loves that part of your body too much to do anything that stupid." Kim said trying to be reassuring. That just worried Troy. It almost made him wish that he joined Gabriella on her flight to DC even if they were supposed to rescue Taylor from herself.

* * *

"Oh my god, you came." Sharpay said hugging Nikki.

"I told you I had a surprise for you." Amanda said with a smile. "Kerry and Marc manipulated Jimmy into picking her up from the Airport while the rest of us were trying to figure out how to walk down the aisle without tripping over our shoes. Poor Alex." Amanda frowned at what happened to the two year old. Fortunately, the ring bear pillow broke his fall when he tripped over his shoelaces.

Rehearsal was crazy after they played musical bridesmaids. Ryan was now her best brother with Troy as her best man. (Amanda promised to punch Zeke in the stomach if he said something stupid about the fact.) Ryan was happy with the change as long as he didn't have to wear a dress. You make your little brother (by a day) dress up like you one time and he never forgets it. Then maybe Ryan was upset that Sharpay interrupted his conversation with Penelope's basketball player friend who was helping her wrangle the twins. For two individuals who were not quite two months old yet, they were quite a handful. Judging by Ryan's blush apparently Zack and Penelope told him all about how Zack became his night and shiny basketball shorts the night before. Sharpay is so mad that there's no video footage of that.

"Of course, I came. I need to get away from cancer and terminally ill fathers." Nikki said hugging her back. Sharpay discovered that she actually missed the girl now that she was gone.

"I'm sorry." Sharpay said sympathetically. She couldn't imagine having to watch a parent slowly die. It would break her apart from the inside. The situation with Tiffany was bad enough and she was not a Blood relative. It is probably more like the situation with her favorite high school drama teacher. Sharpay is still upset she will not be at the wedding. She was more of a mother to Sharpay than Darby ever was.

"It's okay. This is your wedding. Let's not think about the sad stuff. I need a distraction. Where are the babies?" Nikki asked pulling away.

"Caroline is showing them off to Chad's side of the family. Great Aunt Claudia and Grandma Suarez will only be civil to her if the babies are in her arms." Sharpay said taking a sip of her sparkling cider. It was the nonalcoholic variety because she needed to be as sober as possible to deal with her current family and the part that she will inherit tomorrow after she says I do. Especially the woman that her father is currently bringing into the rehearsal dinner. What the hell was she doing here? Sharpay only agreed to invite her because she was sure she would not come.

"I don't understand why I have to stay at a hotel, the mansion has six guest rooms. I hate hotels." Great Aunt Clara said in her normal irritated way. The woman is a holdover from another generation. She stopped speaking to her brother for an entire decade after he married a woman who was half-Jewish and half-Hispanic. Actually, Sharpay was hoping that was the reaction she would have. Sharpay really didn't want to spend serious time with the woman but unfortunately she was family.

"I don't live in the mansion anymore or in Albuquerque for that matter. I moved to New York after the divorce. I only have a small apartment here that I stay in when I'm in town for business." Sharpay wanted to laugh. His small apartment had three bedrooms and a spa. Ryan was only staying with her because he wanted to spend quality time with the twins.

"Yet you can't bother with coming up to see your aunt." Sharpay rolled her eyes at her crazy aunt's remark.

"Of course he didn't come see her because she's that toxic. I have to help save my father from my great aunt. Excuse me." Sharpay said excusing herself as she placed her glass on an empty tray of one of the servers. If she didn't, she may be tempted to throw it at her relative.

"I've been helping Sharpay get things settled." Her father said cryptically. Why did she have a feeling that her father was deliberately keeping the old bat in the dark?

"I don't know what could be so important that you could not have spared your aunt a visit." Okay that definitely told Sharpay that her father did not fill in Aunt Clara on pretty much everything. He would owe her a great guilt gift for this. Her father is notorious for not telling people things supposedly for their own good. When in reality he doesn't tell you stuff because he is afraid of a confrontation. Sharpay is pretty sure that her father would not have told the woman about the divorce if it didn't make the national news. Thankfully, most of the family drama has stayed in the local press and Aunt Clara thought the Internet was something that you use to keep mosquitoes out of the house.

"Hello Aunt Clara." Sharpay said kissing the woman on both cheeks. It took all Sharpay's acting skills to keep smiling as Aunt Clara criticized Sharpay's outfit, dark hair and the fact that she put on a few pounds. She even went so far to give Sharpay the name of the guy responsible for Aunt Clara looking like a skeleton. Thankfully, Marc came over to rescue her.

"I'm sorry Mr. Evans, I need to borrow the bride to be. Caroline needs to introduce her to more of her future family members." Marc said literally trying to pull her away from her but he wasn't fast enough.

"You must be Chad." Aunt Clara said extending her hand with an annoyed sneer. "I've heard so much about you. Vince thinks very highly of you." Sharpay was biting the inside of her lip to keep from laughing.

"Obviously you have never seen a picture." Marc said so low that Sharpay barely heard him. "I'm Marc, the wedding planner. Although Sharpay has excellent taste, she's not my type. She has breasts." At this point, she can see Amanda and Nikki trying to prevent an outburst of giggles. Even Aunt Claudia several feet away seemed just as amused even if she did the same thing to Sharpay last Thanksgiving. Sharpay was not surprised to see the distasteful look she was giving Marc. She must be homophobic as well as a complete racist. Sharpay promised herself that she would be in another state when Aunt Clara found out that her own great nephew played for both teams.

"I'm Sharpay's fiancé, Chad." Her fiancé said extending his hand most likely thinking he was defusing the situation instead of throwing gasoline on the fire. Aunt Clara looked even angrier as she barely shook Chad's hand. She probably only did that to keep up appearances.

"As I was saying earlier, I've heard so much about you but apparently certain very important things were left out. Excuse me while I speak to my grand niece alone." Before Sharpay could protest, she was being dragged out of the banquet room to the front of the restroom. Sharpay refuses to repeat the exact words that her aunt said but apparently Aunt Clara was not that happy about Sharpay's choice of husband on skin tone alone.

"Actually only Chad's father is of African ancestry, mostly. His mother is of Mexican ancestry, sort of. There's a lot of native American in there too on both sides of the family. Some of Caroline's family has lived longer in the States then the Evans family has been on the continent. Race is such an arbitrary thing, and it really doesn't tell you who really is. what does it matter in the grand scheme of things?"

"Like that makes it better." Great Aunt Claire mumbled under her breath ignoring half of what Sharpay said. "You're not pregnant?" Sharpay was so upset about that question her only reaction was to laugh because hitting an old lady would be wrong.

"No, I'm not pregnant, but not for lack of trying. We have sex all the time. He is quite good at it. Just like you, my uterus is broken." Sharpay said in the sweetest voice possible.

Thankfully, before things could get out of hand Marc sent Penelope with her back up and Ryan to help her. You know the situation is dire when someone believes Penelope can help calm her down.

Then again, she didn't start throwing shoes when she found out that Penelope was going to be one of Chad's ushers now that Kim backed out completely so Marc probably thought he could risk it.

"Ryan it's so good to see you. You've always been my favorite. I'm glad you're not wearing pink any more. It was an improper color for a young man." She said hugging Ryan. The fake smile on her brother's face told Sharpay that he was also utilizing all of his acting lessons to keep from throwing their geriatric aunt across the room. She told herself repeatedly that the 87 year old woman was from a different time when it was OK to be a complete bigot therefore, Sharpay could not hurt her.

"You must be Taylor." She said turning to Penelope.

"Actually, I am Taylor." Zack said as he extended his hand Aunt Clara started fanning herself.

"You are one of those homosexuals?" Aunt Clara asked in absolute horror. Sharpay is surprise she didn't say the F word. Sharpay felt the same way for completely different reasons. Ryan was a dead man.

"Actually, I prefer pan-sexual. Taylor is not my boyfriend we just have sex sometimes. This is Penelope Castro, we also have sex sometimes. Yes, she is related to Fidel. Have you met Sharpay's fiancée yet? He's a real good kisser. Chad is really good with his tongue." Ryan said as sarcastically as possible. Sharpay would have been laughing if Ryan's joke did not cause their great aunt to have an attack of the vapors. If it wasn't for months of playing basketball with her boyfriend she would have never been able to catch Aunt Clara before she fell to the ground.

"As much as I enjoyed that because she deserved it, if my wedding is ruined because of your little stunt I will never forgive you. Did you have to come out to the rest of our crazy family at my wedding?" Sharpay hissed at her brother as she held her unconscious great aunt.

"There goes the rehearsal dinner." Marc mumbled to himself as Chad's aunt and uncle who were both police officers, came over to perform CPR. At that moment, Sharpay began to cry. Was it really that much to ask for one family event not to end up in disaster?

To be Continued


	46. Let Us Hope Nobody Ends Up Black & Blue2

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Now more wedding goodness.

**Chapter 46: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Let Us Hope Nobody Ends Up Black and Blue. Part two**

Ryan only had to knock on the door twice before Gabriella open the door and kissed him on the cheek even though it was 7:36 AM local time. He barely survived the subway ride to the hotel, Ryan was that exhausted. He would have to thank Kim for her family owning a hotel right off the subway system. He knew that the only reason why Gabriella and Taylor were staying in a room this nice was Taylor's step sister was the heir apparent to the Beijing Gardens hotel chain.

"You must be exhausted." Gabriella said letting him into the suite.

"I was actually able to sleep a little on the plane ." He decided not to mention that it was the most sleep that he's had in the last 48 hours. Of course, his sleepless Thursday/Friday night was his own fault. No one can sleep in the plastic chairs in a hospital waiting room or when his sister was pissed. It's just not possible.

"You can take my room and get a few more hours. I'll try to sleep on the couch but I doubt that I'll get any more sleep this morning. Between the time zone difference and my medication my days and nights are all mixed up. What happened yesterday did not help. It's more productive if I just do homework right now and go to sleep during the day. Troy loves it because the house is always clean." Gabriella said with a soft laugh as they walked to one of the couches.

"Even with Alex there?" Ryan said sitting down.

"We are getting better at keeping him under control. It's usually at least three against one. It's also usually for a week or two at a time. We can manage. How was the wedding?" She asked obviously trying to make small talk.

"Your favorite trouble making toddler managed to dump a few gallons of chocolate all over the hardwood floors of the A of U ballroom." Ryan said as he warily took his phone out of his pocket and slid the phone over to Gabriella.

"That must have been a disaster." She remarked with her face scrunched up as she saw pictures of a chocolate covered Alex playing around on the floor most likely trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Actually that was one of the more lighthearted moments. Chad's Aunt Claudia threw a tantrum after the judge pronounced the couple Mr. and Mrs. Chad Evans. She is still furious about Chad taking our last name even though his biological father was a complete ass. I do not even want to talk about her reaction to Chad putting Jack down as his father on the wedding invitation. My Spanish was not good enough to keep up with the argument that Chad's mom had with his grandmother about it. Although, I could recognize enough curse words to know that it wasn't good. There was also a scene later on when multiple family members kept coming up to Sharpay asking if she was pregnant. This was when the rest of the family found out Sharpay has girl problems and biological children probably will not happen."

Ryan decided not to tell Gabriella that the rest of the family included him. He was so furious that he pulled his sister into one of the bathrooms to have a quick chat. That was when he found out the real reason why his former girlfriend was currently in DC. Ryan wasn't sure what he found more infuriating, Taylor not telling him the circumstances behind her adoption or his sister keeping this and other secrets from him. At least, his sister could always fall back on the fact she was protecting the privacy of someone else. Okay, the only reason why he's not furious at his sister was she already had him booked on the next flight to Reagan National.

"That's not good." Gabriella said not commenting on his sister's infertility.

"It got worse when certain family members came up to my dad and tried to comfort him by saying that my being into guys was only a phase and he would have grandchildren yet. My father just smiled graciously and told the bartender to cut these individuals off." Gabriella was laughing again.

"Do I even want to know how your entire family found out that your pan sexual? I only found out about it last month. I can't believe you dated Jason Cross and I had no idea." Ryan had no choice but to tell her everything after she witnessed the disaster that was the baby coming out party. Ryan was thankful that he was too busy with exams to fly down for the party. He did not even see his ex boyfriend until he watched him being thrown into a university police car as he left for the Airport right after the chocolate fiasco.

"I may have gotten a tiny bit irritated at a certain relative who was saying very nasty things about Chad simply because he's not that White. I felt that was the perfect moment to let her know that she had one of those horrible homosexuals in her family. I can't stand the small minded even if they are blood relatives." Ryan decided not to tell Gabriella just yet what the consequences of that revelation were.

"Did anybody get arrested this time?"

"Sort of, but it was not Albuquerque PD this time. Jason was dragged off by A of U Campus Security for trying to crash the wedding in an effort to get his boyfriend back. Zeke intervened before things could get ugly inside." Ryan went on to explain the whole thing.

"You've got to be kidding me?" Gabriella said laughing.

"Fortunately nobody noticed it because it happened right when Alex managed to ruin $100,000 wedding dress after the chocolate water fountain incident."

"What happened?" Gabriella asked.

"Look at the next picture." As soon as the words were out of his mouth Gabriella started laughing hysterically. Ryan knew that Gabriella was looking at a picture of the chocolate covered toddler hugging the train of Sharpay's wedding dress.

"Do I need to send Troy and Kim my condolences?" Gabriella asked in between giggles.

"Contrary to high school rumors, Sharpay would never kill an innocent two year old. She's just going to send Kim the replacement bill and use this against Troy for the rest of his natural life." Ryan said smiling.

"Oh god, I do not even want to think about the things that she is going to be able to manipulate him into doing with 'your son ruined my wedding dress'. No wonder he did not call yesterday." Gabriella said with hands over her mouth trying to stifle laughter or shock. Ryan wasn't sure which.

"Probably no worse than what she's going to do to me for ruining her rehearsal dinner." Ryan said with another sigh.

"Do I want to know?" Gabriella asked with trepidation.

"Probably not, the family member that triggered my coming out was great Aunt Clara. She happens to be the original drama queen of the Evans family. She didn't take having a non heterosexual in the family well at all."

* * *

About 33 hours earlier

"Seriously Ryan, what possessed you to think telling our almost a century old great aunt that you're one of the gays was a good idea? If she dies, it will be your fault." Sharpay said with hands on hips as she paced around the waiting room of AMC becoming more furious by the minute. The others in the room were looking at her funny. At least she had the decency to wait until their father left to attack him.

"I heard everything she said about Chad. She had no right to talk to you like that. I thought it would make her angry enough to leave. I wasn't expecting her to lose consciousness like that." Ryan said in his defense not looking at his angry sister.

"Ryan, she's very old and has been taking high blood pressure medicine since its creation. You don't shock someone like that." She screamed again.

"I'm sure she's going to be okay. Besides how was I supposed to know, that me being non heterosexual would freak her out like that. You and daddy were okay with it." It was a weak defense and Ryan knew it but it was all he had.

"Ryan I was more shocked when I saw you making out with Kelsey. I've always known that you'd like guys. You had more posters of the Backstreet Boys and Nsync in your bedroom than I did. You actually cheered when Lance came out of the closet." Ryan couldn't help but laugh at that.

"I like the choreography." Sharpay gave him a dubious look at his excuse.

"I remember." Sharpay said as the room became silent again. It stayed like that until Chad arrived with soda and candy several minutes later.

"Is it a bad sign when you have spent so much time in a hospital that you know where all the good machines are?" Chad said handing his girlfriend a Dove candy bar and a diet soda. Sharpay refuses to consume any other grocery store chocolate bar. His sister is a chocolate snob. Personally, Ryan was surprised she will eat anything that is not imported from Swiss or Belgium.

"It's only a bad sign if you're willing to eat from the bad vending machines." His sister remarked as she took a bite of chocolate.

"Have you heard anything from the doctors?" Chad asked sitting next to Sharpay and putting an arm around her.

"Nothing yet, dad went to go check on her. You know he is on the board here so the doctors may actually answer his questions." Ryan responded just as Nikki, Amanda, and Zeke walked into the waiting area carrying several bags.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sharpay asked in surprise.

"From personal experience I know that hospital food is nasty especially when the cafeteria has closed for the night. Who knows how long you guys are going to be here so we brought food." Nikki said lifting the bags in her hands.

"It's mostly the appetizers. I didn't dare tried to take any of the main course stuff away. Your family is vicious when it comes to food." Zeke said pointing at Chad. "Troy and Kim would be here but they are the only ones that have any hope at all of keeping the two sides of the family at peace. Marc refused to let them leave."

"Your grandma Sanchez was calling Jack something in Spanish that I cannot repeat when we finally got the hell out of there." Nikki added as they walked out of the main waiting room to a place where they could actually eat something.

"I know exactly what she called him, she forgets that I'm fluent in Spanish sometimes. This is completely fucked up. We are here at the hospital making sure Aunt Clara doesn't die, god bless her weak, close minded little heart," Chad said that last part with pure sarcasm, "While her extended family is getting smashed at a rehearsal dinner without the guest of honor. Seriously, what is wrong with our families?" Chad asked with head in hand.

"One of your uncles said it was disrespectful to waste food." Amanda said with a snicker.

"Which side of the family?" Chad asked shaking his head.

"It was Uncle John."

"Again which side of the family? Technically, I have an Uncle John on both sides. More than one on Charles' sighed because Grandpa John did not believe in monogamy or condoms either. He died of a certain STD before I was even born. Although since you said John and not Juan or Johnny, I'm going to go of my dad's half-brother John. He doesn't even like me very well. He probably just came for the free food. I'm not even sure he was actually invited." Chad said in irritation. Ryan always thought their family was screwed up but Chad's family seems so much worse.

"You do remember Aunt Claudia took over the guest list in exchange for not mentioning the last name thing." His sister reminded her fiancé.

"Which she has not honored at all. Now, we have even more people at the wedding I cannot stand. We should have gone to Vegas." Chad said looking down again.

"On the bright side, you now get to enjoy the goat cheese and pancetta many sandwiches, without having to spend quality time with family you don't like, as your suppose best friend humiliates you in front of everyone." Amanda said with a smile as she passed out paper plates with tiny little sandwiches on them. Ryan was just happy to be eating anything that wasn't fast food or out of the vending machine.

"Troy is crushed about not getting to do his speech." Zeke said after a few minutes of eating in silence. He even did a power point presentation. I only know about it because he asked for those pictures from basketball camp from ninth grade. " Judging by the way Zeke was smirking, Ryan was really upset about not getting to see those pictures.

"Oh god, you do know he's going to still show that to the family and I'm not even going to be there to defend myself." Chad said obviously mortified. "We really should have gone to Vegas. We should still go. The way things are going if we want to actually get married we need to get the hell out of Albuquerque."

"You called me a drama queen in high school. You are so much worse. Remember we are doing this for our children. It can't be that bad, stop worrying." Sharpay said squeezing his hand in reassurance.

"Oh yes it can be." Zeke said laughing. "Chad and Troy got into some silly fight for reasons I cannot even remember. Chad said something stupid and Troy decided to get him back at him by dressing him up as a girl while he was sleeping."

"How could he even get away with that? Chad is a really light sleeper. He's always the first one up when the baby start crying." His sister told everyone.

"I'm a light sleeper now because of that. Before that incident, you could jump up and down on my bed and I would still stay fast asleep. After dressing me up as a pretty princess, complete with makeup and tiara, my so-called friends dump me on the couch in the community room. I don't want to talk about what happened next, except that I got back at Troy later on."

"You mean at our first away game that semester where you threw all his clothes in a lake and he had to ride home in basketball shorts and a towel." Zeke said now laughing hysterically.

"That was great. The only reason why I did not end up running drills for the rest of the semester was mom told Jack about the pretty princess incident. Really, I should have known that something was going on between those two years ago." Chad mumbled under breath and Zeke just nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm just so glad that you two grew out of your pranks stage before we became friends." Ryan said with a shiver.

"It's too bad I miss that. I always thought you would look good dressed as a girl." Sharpay said with a smile.

"I may be willing to put on that thing you picked up from DLS if you're a good girl." That statement caused Ryan to choke on his finger sandwich. That image would have been very pleasant before Chad went from being the hot basketball player that he had a crush on for most of high school to his sister's fiancé.

"I don't want to know if your future husband is into cross-dressing. Actually, I don't want to know anything about your sex life." Ryan said still shivering.

"That's only because he's not interested in you." she said with a wicked smirk and Chad just seemed to be happy that there was no one else around. "Seriously you did not need to tell Aunt Clara what a good kisser Chad is. I think that's what sent her over the edge. You owe me for ruining my rehearsal dinner and if I want to share all the dirty details of my sex life with my favorite little brother, I will." His sister would torture him with stuff like that because she was that evil.

"You should be thanking me. Kim was planning her very own embarrassing power point presentation. She asked for the video where grandma thought it would be adorable to give us a bath together." Ryan said with a wicked smirk as Sharpay became worried.

"That's not too embarrassing. We bathed the twins all the time together. They are too little to notice anything weird." Chad said with a shrug.

"This was the incident where Sharpay asked grandma why I was different than her. It just gets worse from there." Ryan said still smirking.

"Okay so maybe it was a good thing that you almost killed our great aunt." Sharpay said with a nervous laugh.

"Do I want to know?"

"Not really." Sharpay said quickly as everybody ate in anything but silence. The group continued sharing extremely embarrassing stories about Chad and Sharpay. Amanda couldn't stop laughing during the stories of their summer at the country club. Zeke thought it was funny that Chad was never able to sleep during away games when he was playing at A of U. It was after most of the food was gone that Ryan's father found the group. They were having so much fun they forgot why they were at the hospital in the first place.

"Mr. Evans would you like something to eat. I think we still have some of the bacon and blue cheese sliders laughed." Amanda offered.

"That's fine. My doctor says I'm not supposed to have red meat anymore anyway. I'll get something on the way home." His father said with an exhausted side. If considering how much his father loves stake, Ryan found this statement a little strange.

"I knew I should have brought some of the salmon." Zeke mumbled to himself.

"What did the doctors say about Aunt Clara?" Sharpay asked quickly.

"She's fine, so much that she just screamed at me for the last 30 minutes for having a homosexual for a son and referred to my daughter by several synonyms for prostitute that I will not repeat. I'm personally sure the whole thing at the dinner was a grand performance." Mr. Evans said bitterly.

"Why am I not surprised? Is it wrong to be disappointed that it wasn't worse?" Sharpay asked the group. Ryan felt the same way but kept his thoughts to himself. "It was probably the shock that caused her to lose consciousness although I stand by my earlier statement. They don't think it was her heart but they're going to keep her overnight for observations and more tests."

"I think that's doctor Speak for 'we have no idea what the hell is wrong with you so we're going to make you sleep in those horrible beds for another 24 hours'." Sharpay said with annoyance.

"Sharpay, tomorrow is a big day for you. Go home and rest. I can stay here for a little bit longer." His father said kissing Sharpay on the forehead. After much argument Sharpay did leave 30 minutes later.

* * *

"Is your aunt okay?" Gabriella asked with concern after hearing about what happened at the rehearsal dinner and everything else. She could not believe Ryan did that. Actually what she couldn't believe was that Ryan had a completely drunk make out session with one of the hottest players at A of U. They were so talking about that after the Taylor situation was dealt with, whenever that would be.

"She's alive and driving her extended family crazy. She's going to be stuck in Albuquerque for at least a week which makes me very happy I have to be back to school Tuesday. To apologize for her toddler ruining the reception and Sharpay's wedding dress, Kim is paying for Aunt Clara to stay in the presidential suite in the Garden hotel furthest away from Chad and Sharpay's condo. She's even paying for the Home Health Care nurse to take care of her. This is probably the reason why Sharpay forgave her best friend for the wedding dress thing." Ryan explained.

"Your aunt can't be that bad." Gabriella said calmly.

"Its moments like this I think you're good nature was not caused by you're happy pills. Some people are just that bad. As a goodwill gesture I stopped by the hospital Friday morning to check on her and bring her something for breakfast that's actually edible. She threw the muffin at my head and told me she took me out of her will for being one of those homosexuals. She also took Sharpay out of the will for doing something that's been legal since Loving vs. Virginia." Gabriella had no idea how to respond to that but considering the fact that Ryan was smiling Gabriella doubted that he was very upset about that.

"You almost seemed happy about being cut off." Gabriella mention.

"That's because I am. Aunt Clara is not a very nice person even if she is worth $50 million, supposedly. She's like high school Sharpay but 30 times worse with more pretense and prejudice. The only thing in her will that I wanted was her collection of glass figurines. The money is just not worth pandering to her. " Ryan said warily.

"Let's talk about something else. Did you bring me back a piece of wedding cake like Sharpay promised, when I agreed to come to DC or was said cake destroyed by the chocolate waterfall incident?" Gabriella asked happily. The only reason why she rarely wanted to come to the wedding was the cake when she heard Zeke was making it. She has a bit of a sweet tooth and loved everything he made.

"No my slightly deranged sister requested that the waterfall and the cake beyond separate tables even if it meant moving everything around much to Marc's irritation. It wouldn't have mattered because Sharpay had Zeke make a special cake just for you and Taylor. It was Taylor's favorite flavor chocolate raspberry truffle cream." Ryan said not looking at her.

"Where is it?" Gabriella asked impatiently.

"I did bring you back wedding cake and other goodies from the reception. Unfortunately they are probably now in the TSA snack room at the Albuquerque Airport." Gabriella frowned at that.

"They took the cake?" She asked in surprise, really she shouldn't be.

"Apparently it was a security concern." Ryan said sardonically

"You've got to be kidding me." Gabriella said in irritation.

"I promise to pick you up something downstairs later prayerfully when I'm not falling over with exhaustion." Ryan said with a yawn.

"It's just not the same. I wanted wedding cake. Your sister promised me Zeke wedding cake if I came down here to help Taylor. After what happened yesterday, I deserve Zeke cake." She said with hands on her hips.

"Blame the TSA. Don't worry the chocolate raspberry cheesecake here is almost as good as Zeke's. Even though I could not bring you cake I did bring wedding video, the uncensored version. We can watch it in the morning. How are things with Taylor? Was it really that bad?" Ryan asked obviously picking up on what she said earlier?

"It's already morning." She said trying to avoid talking about what happen with Taylor. She just got her friend to fall asleep a little before Ryan showed up and that was only due to the vast amounts of alcohol Taylor consumed.

"I meant after actually getting some sleep." Ryan said yawning again.

"Good idea. We can talk about Taylor later. Gabriella said pushing Ryan into her room not really willing to talk about what happened yesterday when they finally found Taylor's biological father. That was a complete disaster.

"Wait, I have to let Sharpay know that I got here all right." Ryan could not even get through that sentence without a yawn as she kept pushing him forward

"Even though it's almost 6:00 AM in Albuquerque I'm pretty sure your sister is preoccupied right now with sleep if nothing else." Gabriella said smirking.

"That's why I'm sending a text message and please never mention my sister's sex life even in an allusion." Ryan said with a shiver.

"You can send her a message in the morning. She's already mad at you for ruining her rehearsal dinner. Do you really want to find out what will happen if you ruin the honeymoon?"

"That's a very good point." Ryan said as Gabriella successfully managed to get him to lie down. "She would probably just give me too many details about what I'd just interrupted from my own personal well being."

* * *

30 minutes later Gabriella was successfully able to actually fall asleep herself on the somewhat comfortable couch. Unfortunately less than five hours later she woke up to the sound of the maid knocking on the door. Her recent sleep deprivation was almost to make her miss that medication that made her sleep all this time. Because everyone else in the suite was still sleeping, she decided to watch some of the wedding video after ordering room service. Ryan conveniently left his cell phone charging in the living room area.

Gabriella wondered who shot the thing because Ryan was in every shot after the beginning. It was the most nontraditional bridal party Gabriella has ever seen at a wedding even if the dresses were really nice. Chad's two bridesmaids, Amanda and Penelope of all people, escorted each other down the aisle. Gabriella actually started choking when she saw Penelope as part of the bridal party. She was pretty sure that Penelope was one of the few people that Sharpay hated more than her after what Gabriella witnessed last summer. That seems to be no longer the case. Although from the story Taylor told her if it wasn't for Penelope, Chad and Sharpay may not be together now, so maybe this was Chad's twisted way of thanking her.

Gabriella was sure it was not originally planned for Troy to actually have to carry the ring bearer to the altar. She understood why when he finally did let go of the toddler and Alex started running around the garden area outside the tent immediately. After said two year old was caught trying to climb into the water fountain, he spent the rest of the wedding in the lap of his maternal grandfather. Considering the horror stories she has heard about Mr. Kim from Troy he was probably the strict grandparent. Unfortunately, Alex threw the ring bearer pillow into the fountain before he tried to climb in after it. The ceremony was halted for 10 minutes to get the rings out of the fountain. The wedding planner seemed to be in tears according to the description of a person Gabriella could not recognize. She thinks the other person making snide comments regarding a furious Sharpay was Jimmy but she is not sure.

Finally, Sharpay was escorted down the aisle by Ryan and her father with a genuine smile on her face. Even though she found Sharpay annoying at times she always thought she was pretty, that was more evident in the designer dress she was wearing. Maybe her bright smile was why she seems so radiant. Gabriella has never seen Sharpay that happy before, she seemed like a completely different person.

That's when the camera moved to Chad who seemed like the happiest man in the world judging by the expression on his face. Just looking at him Gabriella could tell that this marriage was anything but forced and he truly loved her. That look alone made Gabriella want to cry. No one ever looked at her like that.

Unfortunately, certain family members actually at the wedding did not see what Gabriella saw and despite the Judge skipping over that part several people raise their objections to the marriage. Gabriella could understand why Ryan was happy that a certain family member was too incapacitated to actually be at the wedding. Who knew what great Aunt Clara would have said? Chad's Aunts Claudia and Sarah were causing enough of a scene on their own before Chad's grandmother told the two to shut up.

The rest of the ceremony seemed to go smoothly other than Kim running out of the service most likely to throw up. That's probably because it was a short ceremony. The most extravagant part was when the couple exchanged their own vows. This was obviously a tissue moment Gabriella thought to herself as Chad grabbed Sharpay's hand and began to speak.

"I Chadwick Danforth soon to be Evans take you as my wife. I promise to love you from this day forward even when you get on my nerves and keep stealing my T shirts even if you say otherwise." Chad paused as those in attendance laughed.

"I promise to accept you as you are and as you will be. I promise to help you find the person that you will become. I promise to provide what support you need emotionally and physically. I promise to see beyond what you want me to see and see the person who you are underneath all pretence. I will stay by your side through good and bad, until death. I promise to tell you when you drive me crazy or anything else that's bothering me. I promise to respect you. Above all else, I promise to love you, always." Even though he tried to hide it Gabriella could tell Chad was crying at this point. Then again so was practically everyone else including Gabriella.

"You already said that part." Sharpay said through tears.

"It's important. I had to say it twice." Chad said kissing her tears away literally.

"We have not come to that part of the ceremony yet." The Officiate said with a sigh. "You never did follow orders very well Chad."

"Sorry." Chad said pulling away from Sharpay.

"Sharpay, you may begin." The judge said with a nod and a sigh.

"I Sharpay Evans take you Chadwick Danforth soon to be Evans as my wedded husband in accordance of the laws of this state. I promise to love and respect the person you are and the person you will become. I promise to not keep secrets from you and to trust you with my heart and body completely. I will let you know when you drive me crazy or anything else that's bothering me. I promise to support you in any way I can. I will love and cherish you always." Sharpay said choking back tears during the last part. Gabriella was currently on her second tissue.

"I think you said that twice." Chad joked.

"It's important." Sharpay said with more tears streaming down her face.

The Officiate was able to finish the ceremony before the couple started kissing again. The video ended with the couple being introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Chad Evans and Aunt Claudia going on a rant. Gabriella was laughing and crying simultaneously.

"What are you watching?" Gabriella heard Taylor ask from her bedroom door. She is surprised that Taylor was that coherent this morning. It probably helped that she left water and Tylenol by her bed.

"Nothing." Gabriella said not knowing how Taylor would react to the footage of her ex boyfriend getting married considering everything that happened yesterday. She wasn't ready to deal with a crying hysterical Taylor again. Unfortunately, the screen was frozen on a picture of Sharpay and Chad running down the aisle.

"That looks suspiciously like Chad and Sharpay in wedding clothing." Taylor said giving Gabriella a suspicious look.

"It is. I didn't know if you wanted to watch your ex get married."

"This is coming from somebody who shares an apartment with her ex boyfriend? I can be just as well adjusted as you."

"It's a gigantic house and I'm probably only living there so Troy can make sure I'm taking my medication properly and I can help when he has custody of Alex. I'm also there to make sure Troy doesn't do stupid things like eat strawberry ice cream, again." Taylor frowned at that most likely because she mentioned a father who was taking responsibility for a child created by broken condoms and defective birth control.

"I just wasn't sure what you could take today after yesterday." Gabriella said sadly.

"It's not a big deal Gabriella. I did what I came for. I found my biological father and he wants nothing to do with me. It's fine, because I want nothing to do with him." Taylor said quickly most likely trying to hold back tears. Gabriella knew Taylor was anything but fine but she was too stubborn to acknowledge that to anyone including herself.

"You should watch the video at least the first part anyway." Gabriella said changing the subject. "It's hilarious. It will make you laugh and cry simultaneously. Alex managed to lose the rings in a water fountain."

"Why am I not surprised?" Taylor said grabbing the phone from her. "Where did you get this phone? This is Ryan's cell phone." Taylor almost yelled.

"How can you tell? All iPhones look exactly alike." That's when Ryan came out of the other bedroom.

"What are you doing here?" Taylor asked in irritation.

"I'm just going to let you to talk." Gabriella said grabbing her purse and her phone to get out of the room as quickly as possible. She was very thankful that she was already dressed. There was no way she was going to stick around for that conversation. It wasn't until she made it down to the lobby that she realized she had Ryan's phone instead of hers.

To be continued.

I originally had Chad and Sharpay's honeymoon stuff and the showdown between Ryan and Taylor in this chapter but I felt it needed to be in a separate part. The good news is the chapter is already drafted.


	47. Ends and Beginnings

Thank you to everyone who read the last chapter. This is my second attempt at writing this chapter. For some reason, I am completely unable to open my first attempt at this chapter. (Evil computer) I attempted to recreate everything by memory.

**Chapter 47: Ends and Beginnings**

That thing about couples having lots of crazy sex on their wedding night is a complete lie in Sharpay's opinion. She barely had the energy to walk to the limo after the wedding from hell. As predicted, by abiding to that stupid wedding tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other before the wedding just resulted in another sleepless night for her. It took her makeup artist, John-Luke, an hour to get rid of the puffiness and dark circles. The events of the morning just added to the dark circles.

To help protect her father's sanity she decided to bring him breakfast at AMC on the way to the salon. She arrived just in time to see her crazy aunt hit Ryan in the head with a muffin as she called him things that Sharpay is just not going to repeat. She was just glad her 'best brother' did not have bruises on his face. That would be horrible for the wedding pictures. Its moments like these she thinks Aunt Clara is related to Darby not her father. They are both abusive and self-absorbed bitches who like to play mind games. Sharpay was through playing games.

The room that they were supposed to use to get ready for the ceremony was still trashed from what Sharpay can only assume was a frat party from before spring break. Seriously, how long does it take them to clean anything on campus?

To top it all off Troy took her cell phone when he caught her sending text messages to Chad about how miserable she was. Ryan wasn't there to help calm her pre wedding nervousness because he was outside quelling the crowd including Aunt Claudia. She doesn't even want to talk about why they had to completely rearrange the wedding party but it involves a certain ring bearer trying to mess up her dress before the wedding even started. Considering this, Sharpay really should not have been surprised about the two year old losing the ring or managing to cover her dress in chocolate after doing the same to the ballroom.

Sharpay is also trying to repress the snide comments of certain relatives that she cannot stand. She knows that getting married at 19 on extremely short notice seems unusual, but she is pissed that everyone in the family seems to assume that she is pregnant. She is starting to understand the real reason why her father was always working on Christmas. He can't stand anyone else in the family but her and Ryan.

There were a few great moments in between the chaos. Her friends checking up on her at the hospital and bringing her food was one of them. There was also Chad's vows that made her cry a lot but they were happy tears. She was half expecting him to quote song lyrics but he surprised her. He surprised her again by singing her the song _All My Life _by K-Ci & JoJo. They used the Beyoncé version of_ Ave Maria for the first dance _even though it made Sharpay cry.

She cried a lot at her wedding especially in the bathroom when she ended up explaining the entire Taylor situation to her brother after he freaked out because she didn't tell him about the infertility thing before she screamed it to the rest of her unruly guests. He didn't believe her at first. Fortunately, it seems that Judge Suarez was in the disabled stall and heard the entire conversation. The old judge was a partner in the firm of Taylor's biological father before her conscience could not allow her to stay there any longer and decided to ironically enough to teach legal ethics at the University of New Mexico. She was the one who convinced Ryan to take Sharpay up on her offered to go to DC right away. He left just as his ex boyfriend was hauled off by security and her wedding dress was ruined by a chocolate covered toddler.

By the time she changed into her traveling outfit for the cake cutting ceremony Ryan was gone and Sharpay was ready to drop. Unfortunately, she had another 2 hours of partying with the relatives to tolerate before she could leave. Chad practically had to carry her to the limo after she kissed both babies goodbye and left them in the care of her mother in law. (It took Chad 10 minutes to convince her it would be perfectly safe to leave the babies behind. It was the first time that she has left the babies alone for that long and she was a little afraid to.)

"Don't even think about limo sex." Sharpay said icily as she laid her head on her husband's lap when he tried to kiss her once they were finally inside the vehicle. (So she gets a little giddy every time she calls him that.)

"I'm too tired." Sharpay said yawning.

"I wasn't going to. First, I'm pretty sure that the driver is one of my cousins. That's just wrong." Chad said with a shiver.

"You're related to half of Albuquerque." Sharpay said sleepily. "That's not surprising."

"You can blame Grandpa John and Sanchez for not believing in birth control." Chad said stroking her hair. "From what I've read it's harder for a woman to orgasm if she's tired and it's just not fun if you're not enjoying it." He said with a smirk.

"I think you enjoy studying that stuff a little too much. You should make a career of it." Sharpay said stifling another yawned as she snuggled into his lap.

"There are jobs involving researching sex?" Chad asked.

"Somebody has to write the books you read. If you let me sleep until Santa Fe, I'll do whatever you want." Sharpay said with another yawn.

"Just sleep baby." He said kissing her on the forehead.

"I knew I married you for a reason." Sharpay said yawning once more.

* * *

Sharpay woke up not in her white cream suit but rather purple underwear with the words 'kiss me' across the crotch and one of Chad's T shirts. Personally, she is surprise her new husband didn't dress her up in one of the presents from Penelope. Chad was sleeping beside her in boxer shorts. She quickly grabbed the cell phone on the night stand to see that it was 6:34 am before she ran to the bathroom. Apparently, her hasty exit also woke up Chad who was waiting for her to get out of the bathroom. They have gotten to the point in their relationship where Chad could be urinating while she's brushing her teeth and it doesn't even faze her anymore. That was when she realized that they really could do this marriage thing.

"Why did you not wake me up?" She said just after she spat out the toothpaste.

"I've tried, but you told me not to. If this marriage is going to work I need to listen to you whenever possible." Chad smirked as he walked over to wash his hands.

"You're so well-trained. I don't even remember that." Sharpay said as she found the mouthwash in her toiletry bag. She quickly took a drink of the bottle before passing it to her husband. (She still loved calling him that. It made her happy.)

"Considering you were half asleep at the time I'm not surprised. You're adorable when you're asleep." He said before trying to kiss her.

"Mouthwash first." She said pulling away.

"Fine" Chad said taking a drink, swishing it around, and then spitting it out. "Happy now?"

"Very." Sharpay said kissing him quickly before moving back into the living room of the suite.

"You managed to stay asleep as I checked in. You did not even wake up when I carried you upstairs. Hell, you stayed asleep when I dressed you for bed. As much as I wanted to use all the fun little toys you brought along including the silk scarves, I knew you needed the sleep. Are you up to bondage type stuff?" Chad was most likely thinking about he who should not be named when he asked that question.

"What I said yesterday during the wedding was more than just pretty words. I do trust you completely, even enough to let you tie me to the bed and do whatever you want. Although, right now I would prefer if you were the one tied to the bed. You know I am the Dom in this relationship." She said with a sweet smile.

"This is why I married you. You're insane, but in a good way. " He said kissing her again.

"Do you realize that we just became the first couple in history to sleep in a honeymoon suite twice and not have sex?" She asked.

"From what I've read, it is actually very common not to have sex on the wedding night. As I told you in the car before you spent the entire drive drooling on my lap it's not fun if you're not enjoying yourself. Both of us were too tired last night." He said stroking her hair.

"I'm not tired now." Sharpay said taking her T-shirt off and straddling her husband's lap. For some strange reason Chad pulled away.

"As much as I do want to try out the four post bed, breakfast first, fun time later. You're going to need a lot of carbohydrates for what I want to do." Chad said with a wicked expression.

"You're turning down sex, for _food_. Isn't that against the man code of honor?" She asked incredulously.

"According to the big book of man, food is the only thing we can turn sex down for." Chad joked. She just gave him a dark look in return.

"You have not had anything to eat since the wedding cake. Hypoglycemia is bad. If you don't eat before fun time, knowing our luck you will lose consciousness at climax. I don't want to spend our entire baby free weekend/honeymoon in the hospital. You're going to need to be well fed and hydrated for what I have planned." Chad whispered against her neck.

"You would get to enjoy the vending machines at a brand new hospital if that happens." Sharpay said with a smile before grabbing her T-shirt. "Fine, you win. You owe me something with chocolate for acquiescing." She said putting her T shirt back on.

Her T-shirt was off again as soon as the waiter was out the door after bringing their breakfast of waffles, bacon, whipped cream, berries, and chocolate sauce. Her something chocolate came from of her licking chocolate sauce off her husband's stomach and other appendages. Apparently, Chad thought it was a good idea to do sex and breakfast simultaneously. It was fun but there are some places that blueberry syrup should never go. It was a good thing she no longer had blond hair because it would probably be stained. They were so going to have to pay for the sheets.

The fun morning honeymoon activities also included riding Chad on the couch and hot tub sex. Since there is only a 1 percent chance that she can get pregnant and stay pregnant without medical intervention Chad is a little more willing to be 'adventurous'. At least something good came out of the fact that she has a broken uterus.

They left the hotel room for lunch so the maid could take care of the mess in the bedroom. It was a disaster area. Sharpay felt it was best to leave a very nice tip considering her panties were hanging from one of the light fixtures. If it wasn't for the fact that Sharpay did not want to sleep on chocolate sauce and body fluids they probably would have never left the room.

Although, the homemade green Chile that they found at the restaurant three blocks away made her happy that they did leave. They also had an apple pie that was even better than Zeke's.

Chad spent half of their lunch 'inappropriately touching' her underneath the table. She seriously hopes none of the little children around figured out what her new husband was doing. Although the fact that she recreated the deli scene from _When Harry met Sally_ without the faking it probably clued everybody in. The food was good, but not that good.

Because Sharpay was sure she would be otherwise occupied for the rest of the day she decided to take the opportunity to check up on the Twins and the rest of her family. According to her dad, Darby stormed his apartment after reading the society page that morning. He did not provide Sharpay with any details of the encounter except that Darby was most upset to see her Sister Natalie in the picture used by the paper. The babies were also perfectly OK according to her mother in law.

The only thing that worried Sharpay was that Ryan hasn't bothered to call her yet. So she would not have answered the phone this morning but a voice mail would have been nice. A text message would have been fabulous but she got nothing and that worried her. When Chad went into the local Drug Land (funny name for a drug store) for 'supplies', Sharpay decided to yell at her brother for not letting her know that he was okay from the park bench out front.

"Why the hell have you not tried to contact me?" She asked in lieu of greeting as soon as he picked up on the third attempt.

"Sharpay?" Asked a voice which she would recognize anywhere, unfortunately! The fact that Gabriella answered her brother's phone meant that he arrived in DC that morning.

"Why did you answer Ryan's phone?" Sharpay asked, still annoyed.

"Because contrary to what Taylor believes all, iPhones look alike." Gabriella answered sarcastically.

"Do I want to know?" Sharpay asked impatiently.

"It's a long story. I was watching the wedding footage on Ryan's phone when Taylor came to the realization that her ex boyfriend came down to play knight in shining armor. I decided to get out of there as fast as possible before the fighting or makeup sex begins. I'm not sure which I dread more." Sharpay heard Gabriella mumble into the phone.

"For the sake of the hotel room I hope no fighting will be involved. Let's hope there are no baseball bats nearby." Sharpay said with a shiver remembering exactly what Taylor did to her bedroom when she found out about her and Chad. "Then again, I find the prospect of makeup sex equally disturbing. I know why I don't want to even think about my brother having sex with anyone but why does it bother you so much? You're not still hung up on my brother?" Sharpay asked with concern remembering what she was told of the events of Thanksgiving before everything exploded in the Bolton backyard.

"God no, Ryan and me would never work. That all came from a combination of bad advice, not taking my medication, and dealing with the break up with Troy in the worst possible way ever. I'm not interested in dating right now. My perfect Friday night is watching Disney movies with baby Alex." Sharpay could actually hear a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Considering what happened last time, I don't blame you and Alex is great at hugging when he's not being a brat. Did Ryan show you pictures of what he did to my wedding dress?" Sharpay asked with a frown

"Yes. At least it happened at the reception after the wedding pictures." Gabriella said attempting to be positive.

"Some consolation," Sharpay mumbled under breath. "So if you're not jealous, why do you not want your best friend happy?" Sharpay questioned.

"That's just it I do want my friends happy. I'm just not sure that Ryan was happy." There was sadness in her voice again.

"He loves Taylor. He adores her. I doubt he would have flown across the country last night if that wasn't the case." Sharpay said defending her brother.

"Yes, but unfortunately Taylor can't love him right now." Gabriella seemed upset by that point.

"Of course, she loves him. How can you say that?" She asked indignantly even if a part of her wondered if that was true.

"I'm not saying that she doesn't want to love him, I'm saying that she can't. She's not able to right now. " There was that sadness again in her words.

"Why do you think that?" Sharpay asked.

"I know I was out of it last November when they got together..." Sharpay scoffed at that.

"You had a complete breakdown and you spent half of December in the psych ward at AMC."

"Not the point. Even though I was out of it, I realize that that was not the best time for anybody to start a relationship. Ryan just broke up with Kelsey, found out how horrible his mother really is, and was tossed into the media circus that became your parents' divorce. Taylor's sometimes best friend ended up in the psych ward the same day she found out the woman that she referred to as Aunt Vanessa was actually her mother. To me, that just seems like the worst possible time ever to get together." Sharpay couldn't help but roll her eyes at Gabriella referring to herself in the third person even if she had a valid point.

"You forgot about me successfully stealing her boyfriend." Sharpay added.

"I think finding out that her mom was not really her mom was a lot harder than losing Chad, even to you. In her presidential dream, she never saw Chad as being first husband. On some level, I think she knew it just wasn't going to happen. She always saw herself as Taylor McKessie and suddenly she wasn't that person anymore. I think she just wanted something to hold onto." Gabriella explained.

"Maybe they both did." Sharpay said sadly. "I think the break up with Kelsey was harder on Ryan then he would ever tell us. He didn't just lose a girlfriend he lost one of his best friends. That was worse. I just don't want him to lose Taylor too." Sharpay said with worry.

"If Taylor is actually on speaking terms with both you and Chad after what happen last fall, I think Ryan will be okay. She needs all the friends she can get right now considering what happen yesterday." Gabriella said vaguely.

"He's my little brother even if it's by just a few moments. I have a right to worry. Maybe you're right. Wait, how bad were things yesterday? Did she find her father?" Sharpay asked remembering the very dark conversation she had with Judge Suarez yesterday.

"Unbelievably bad, you'll have to get the details from Taylor." Gabriella said not wanting to tell secrets that were not hers. Sharpay could appreciate that.

"I will ask her as soon as she is done screwing my brother." Sharpay said sarcastically hoping that would not be the case.

"I hope not. I promise to make Ryan send you a text message as soon as I know it is safe to go back up there. I may be able to convince Taylor to call you too."

"Fine," Sharpay said letting it go. "I can't believe we just had a civil conversation without screaming or yelling." Sharpay said with humor.

"I'm not. Sometimes I think if things were different, we could have been friends." Gabriella said wistfully.

"Yes but in our little high school musical I was cast as the villain and you were the heroine. We were destined to hate each other. Maybe if Kim stuck around or even told me about her and Troy things would have been different, but that's just not how it happened." Sharpay said sadly. If

"Or maybe if you got out of your Chad deny a little earlier, things would have been better all around."

"Maybe." Sharpay said grudgingly but she doubted that could have happened back then. Too many forces were conspiring against the couple including the ridiculous status quo.

"The thing is high school is over. Now you're the protagonist that will get the fairy tale ending and I am the crazy one who is destined to live a life of misery." Gabriella said with humor not bitterness.

"Even if I have my prince charming I'm still dealing with a wicked mother and lots of personal ghosts. I see a therapist twice a week. I'm just as crazy as you are but without the happy pills, yet." Sharpay joked.

"See this is why I think we could have been friends." Gabriella said softly. "Any way congratulations on the wedding. Did Troy give you my present?" Said present was destroyed by a certain two year old but Sharpay wasn't going to tell her that, besides Kim promised to replace it with something that Sharpay would actually like.

"We won't go through the wedding presents until we get back. But I'm sure it will be lovely. Chad just walked out of the store I got to go." Sharpay said hanging up before this pleasant conversation could become unpleasant.

"Did you get a hold of Ryan?" Chad asked kissing her on the cheek as he sat down next to her.

"No, but I did talk to Gabriella. Ryan is currently locked in a hotel room with Taylor. Gabriella grabbed Ryan's phone when she was fleeing before the carnage or makeup sex could begin." Sharpay said with a smirk.

"I can't blame her." Chad said with a shiver. "Just the thought alone puts me off of using what's in the bag." At that moment Sharpay took a peek inside to see chocolate Easter eggs, cookies, purple peeps, raspberry flavored condoms (because Chad is still that paranoid), toy handcuffs, Chocolate massage oil, and lots of lube.

"Do I even want to know what you're planning involving purple fluff candy, plastic handcuffs, and massage oil?" Sharpay asked with an eyebrow raised.

"You will just have to find out." As far as Sharpay was concerned, Ryan would just have to deal with voicemail.

* * *

"Why are you here?" Taylor asked with arms crossed over her chest the moment Gabriella left her to deal with her former boyfriend alone. Some Best Friend.

"I asked myself that question several times on the plane ride here." Ryan said taking a seat beside her on the couch.

"Did you find an answer?" She asked defensively scooting away from him.

"Because I care about you and this is something you shouldn't do alone." He said trying to squeeze her hand but she just pulled back. She couldn't take him touching her right now.

"Just don't Ryan. I can't deal with you right now. If you really cared about me you wouldn't have broken up with me." She spat out bitterly.

"We didn't breakup." Ryan said and Taylor just wanted to laugh.

"I was there. I know a breakup when I see it." Her words dripped with anger.

"You cannot breakup when there was no real relationship in the first place. To use the term 'breakup' would imply that we had an actual relationship and honestly what we had couldn't be called a relationship by any stretch of the imagination. You stopped talking to me the moment that we started sleeping together. You have been holding me at arm's length ever since. How can that be a relationship?" Ryan argued.

"That's not true." Taylor shot back.

"Yes it is." Ryan said dejectedly. "You barely talk to me about finding out that you were adopted. You said nothing about finding out the real reason why Vanessa had to give you up. You just kept pushing me farther away since January. If it wasn't for Sharpay, I still wouldn't know a damn thing." She frowned at that.

"Actually you have been pushing everyone away. Fortunately, for you Kim, Sharpay and Gabriella can't be pushed away that easily." Ryan said with half a smile before frowning again.

"But I somehow managed to push you away." She said sadly keeping her tears at bay. She was not going to cry in front of him. She did enough crying last night for a lifetime.

"You didn't push me away. I just said we should stop sleeping together. I said nothing about not being there for you. I'm still your friend regardless and I'll always be there because I love you." Ryan stammered that last part out as if he didn't mean to say it.

"You chose a wonderful time to tell me that." She screamed out bitterly not believing that this was the first time he decided to say those words to her.

"That's because I knew saying those words would scare the hell out of you. Since we're not together right now, what more do I have to lose? I know I love you. I just don't think you're ready to love me or anyone for that matter." There was that frown again

"Contrary to what you believe, I'm not still hung up on my ex boyfriend. If you think that is the reason why I have been behaving the way I have, you are an idiot. If everything went well yesterday, I'm pretty sure he is married to your sister now." She said remembering the image on Ryan's phone that she saw minutes earlier.

"They are married, although the wedding was anything but well. Your step nephew got chocolate all over Sharpay's dress, Aunt Claudia freaked out multiple times, and my ex boyfriend was led off by security. Also, Alex lost the wedding rings in a water fountain before the ceremony started."

"It's so weird for you to refer to Alex as my step nephew." Was her only comment to that! May be under other circumstances she would be laughing at Sharpay's misfortune. She just was not in the right frame of mind.

"I think that might be part of the problem. You like to have everything planned out 20 steps in advance and hate when things don't turn out the way you expect them to. I remember reading your 20 year plan last year. You were going to graduate from Yale in 3 years with a bachelor's degree in political science before spending the next two years in the Peace Core. Then you were planning on doing grad school as you did internships for various senators. You wanted to spend three years as a congressional staff member before coming back to Albuquerque to run for State Senate. After four years in the State Senate, you were planning to run for the House of Representatives. You were then planning to spend two terms in the house before you ran for senate. After at least one term as senator, you were going to run for president." She was half impressed that he remembered all of that. Chad barely remembered what school she was going to or what her major would be.

"You had all these wonderful things planned and everything seems to be falling apart. That has you off kilter. You hate your coursework at Yale. Actually, you hate Yale. Your new biological mother, stepsister, and half siblings were not part of your 20 year plan." He said honestly, knowing her too well.

"You forgot that my stepsister also had Troy's kid and kept it a complete secret." She remarked sarcastically.

"I forgot about that. That's another reason why the world is not as planned by Taylor." Ryan said sarcastically.

"I may still do the Peace Core and I may run for public office someday but I don't want it to be my entire life anymore. I think I would like to keep my soul intact. Also, I think this last year would have been easier if I realized that I didn't plan for Chad anywhere in my great 20 year plan." She mumbled that part to herself.

"Maybe, maybe not." Ryan replied with a shrug. "Sometimes we don't realize things until we're ready to realize them."

"That's true." She said in agreement.

"I think the Vanessa situation has been a lot harder on you, than Chad falling head over feet for my sister. Last year you were the McKessie's daughter, this year you are your Aunt Vanessa's daughter and you're not sure how to deal with that. I don't think you know who you are anymore. You can't love anyone until you love yourself. You can't love yourself until you know who you are and you have no idea who you are right now. I don't think we can be more than friends until that happens." That probably sounded more profound because of a lack of food and minimal sleep the night before.

"I think that's the first rational thing you have said all morning." Taylor mumbled to herself only referring to the first part.

"It's afternoon." Apparently, Ryan heard her.

"I just woke up its morning." She said with a shrug.

"Gabriella said you had a hard night."

"Very. I found my sperm donor yesterday." She said again with bitterness but at least this time it was no longer aimed at Ryan.

"The fact that you're using Chad's term for Charles is a bad sign." Ryan said with a sigh.

"Charles never tried to kill Chad, so I think he's ahead." She spat out.

"Yes, but he did put Tiffany in a coma and almost killed the twins in the process. There is now only of 5% chance that she will ever wake up. I think that counts." Ryan shot back.

"Good point. The whole point of wanting to find my sperm donor was to ask him why he was so desperate to get rid of me." She couldn't help the one tear falling down her face as she spoke.

"Did you get your answer?" Ryan asked wiping away that one tear with his fingers.

"No. Although he did ask me how much money it would take for me to go away." Taylor said no longer able to keep the rest of the tears at bay. Ryan wrapped his arms around her and she couldn't bring herself to pull away.

"What was your response?" He asked in a soothing voice.

"I told him to go fuck himself and to keep his damn money." She said sternly as tears leaked through her shut eyes. "I promptly got as drunk as possible and cried on Gabriella until I passed out. If your step sister is the heir apparent to the entire hotel chain, room service will bring you anything you want." She said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could have got here sooner. If nothing else, I'll always be here even when you don't want me to be." He said kissing her forehead.

"I was not alone, I had Gabriella. Maybe, you're right. I was pushing you away." Taylor said as she continued crying in his arms. "It was not fair to you. Maybe you're right about this being the wrong time for a romantic relationship. I'm too busy working on the familial ones. I'm also not sure who I am right now. Hell, I'm not even sure what school I'm going to next year." She said in frustration.

"I thought you were already accepted to Georgetown?" Ryan asked with a puzzled expression.

"I can't be in this city anymore. The sperm donor tainted it for me." She said trying to choke back more tears. She didn't feel like crying anymore.

"You can always stay where you are." Ryan said consolingly

"I hated it there. I despise all my classes. I have no friends. I can't stay there. Fortunately, I always think one step ahead. Since my grades this year were not up to my usual standards even after I got the tutor, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get into Georgetown so I applied to a few other schools." She was thankful for her paranoia right now.

"Which schools?" Ryan asked.

"Stanford, Colombia, University of New Mexico, University of Santa FE, and Berkeley. I've decided that I do better when I am actually surrounded by friends. I discovered that I don't make new ones very easily."

"What about Kim and Marc? Seriously how many emails have you exchange with him?" Ryan questioned.

"Kim is my stepsister. She doesn't count. Marc is interesting. Also, both are on the other side of the country. " She said in her defense.

"You can figure school out later. You don't have to have everything together now. We can talk about it over breakfast." Ryan suggested.

"You do realize it's almost 4:00 PM?" She asked.

"We just woke up. It's still breakfast." He said with a shrug trying to find the room service menu

"Fine, I want something with French fries and cheese." Taylor said with a sigh, feeling slightly better.

"Oh fuck, I forgot to call Sharpay." Ryan said as soon as he picked up the phone.

"I'm pretty sure she's probably too preoccupied to care." She said with a snicker.

"She is my overprotective big sister even if we are almost exactly the same age she is just insane that way. She's always worried about me." Ryan exclaimed.

"I will order room service, you call your sister." Taylor said grabbing the menu from his hand.

"Later, you're probably right about her not wanting to be interrupted."

To be continued.

This was the final arc before we get to the end of this story. I'm thinking 3 to 4 more chapters depending on how long they will be.


	48. The Future is in the Past 1

Thank you to everyone who read the last part or has reviewed this story over the last three years. This is the final arc of Scenes from Freshman Year.

Special note in this Chapter the story is going to flash forward 14 years, similar to what was done on _Desperate Housewives_, so you can see where everyone ends up. (Of course, maybe the flash forward is another Sharpay writing assignment. You will find out later.)

This may be disjointed in parts, but that is intentional. It will all make sense in the end.

Warning: character death (Not Chad or Sharpay)

**The Future is in the Past: Part one**

* * *

**Friday April 7, 2023**

Weston Academy

Manhattan, New York

Oh the misery of Career Day. Chad did not even like this day when he was a child and now he was the main attraction. The things one does for one's children. This was the universe's revenge for all the times his mom was forced to do this. During the years that his mom worked for child welfare services, she managed to turn her participation into a public service announcement about the importance of coming forward if you are being abused, much to his embarrassment. After the fourth grade presentation, when one of his classmates told his mom about her uncle that 'touched her in her special places' Chad started to see she was doing the right thing. (Too bad Sharpay never took her advice back then.)

Charles despised his job and therefore never actually showed up even though he promised he would. (It probably would have been more humiliating if he did.) Charles never did a lot of things he said he would. Thinking about it now the only thing his father ever did for him was give him two wonderful children. As far as Olivia and Isaac were concerned, Chad was their father.

In an effort to be a good parent, he was stuck talking about his job in front of the auditorium filled with eighth graders at the overly pretentious NYC private school Sharpay said the twins just had to attend. They ended up in New York because that was where he was able to get a residency after attending med school in New Jersey and finishing undergrad in California. They stayed because Ryan lived there too with his future CEO husband Zack and matching puppies.

The students looked like hungry vultures ready to attack Chad at any moment, just like the last time he agreed to do this. (Seriously, why couldn't their Uncle Zack be in town to do this? The former A of U basketball player was great with children he was a regular Boys and Girls club volunteer.) Last time Chad did this it was in first grade and technically, he was still in med school. He was supposed to talk about all the cool doctor things he was learning. That did not happen. It was a disaster. Within the first two minutes, he was asked several inappropriate questions about how a 24 year old can have seven year old children. That disaster resulted in Mr. Shelton's first grade class finding out that the Twins were adopted because their biological mother has been in a coma since they were born and their biological father was the one responsible for it. Chad was never asked to come back again until the twins transferred schools. He also received lots of dirty looks from the PTA.

From that point forward until now, Sharpay handled all career days. She was perfect for it. She was actually good with children mostly because she was scared of nothing. By age 33, she has ran the family company, created several charitable organizations including the Tiffany Jackson foundation to Prevent Domestic Violence and sexual assault, become a published author (for children and adults), and had a few of her musical projects turned into Broadway smashes. Not bad for someone who took more than a decade to graduate from College. Her list of accomplishments even made her much more age appropriate than him.

Actually, the disastrous first-grade incident could have been prevented if Sharpay took care of it as originally planned but she was sick with the flu or at least they thought it was the flu and Chad had no choice but to fill in. It turns out Sharpay was pregnant but miscarried two weeks later. That was the first of four miscarriages along with more failed attempts at in Vitro than he cares to remember. They keep trying but it never works. Sharpay has an appointment this afternoon to see if attempt number four billion actually took. She was extremely nervous about it but she wouldn't let him come. Instead, she was taking her Broadway choreographer brother. He needed the distraction because he hated when his husband was away on a business trip. Ryan's BFF Taylor, despite the break up nearly 14 years ago, delegated the job to Sharpay because she was busy with her latest political aspirations.

It's better that Chad is not at the doctor with her anyway. His Doctor side knows that a baby is just never going to happen. Sharpay cannot carry a child. He has accepted that a long time ago but Sharpay hasn't. Sharpay Evans does not take no for an answer. It doesn't matter to him. He has two (sometimes) wonderful children, he doesn't need more.

To distract him from worrying about what's going on with Sharpay's most recent attempt to get pregnant his brilliant children signed him up for career day 2023, without telling him until this morning. He was going to get back at his darling twins in the most embarrassing way possible.

It's not that hard considering his career. He has built an embarrassment potential. He is not just a doctor he is a sexual health and relationship expert. As his wife suggested on their honeymoon years ago it is possible to make a career out of sex (that does not involve 'solicitation'). That led to Chad switching to Pre med and psychology. He still managed to finish undergrad in four years even though he switched schools after his second year. After everything that happened, Sharpay needed a change of scenery, and being in the same city as their best friends seem idea once they could leave. (Sharpay needed to spend a year in New Mexico to stabilize Evans International after the upheaval of the spring before. Afterwards, she was able to turn the reins over to Mr. Kim.)

After a few more years of school and helping Jackie with a school assignment to create a new type of medical website, they started the blog Sex and Life with Dr. Chad that handled questions from college students about everything from the best type of lube to use to the best way to leave an abusive relationship. He was just supposed to be the medical expert on Jackie's class project instead the web site was still going strong seven years later and he got a book deal out of the thing. Six months ago, his second book _The Significant Other's Guide to Sexual Assault: How to Help your Partner Heel _came out and it was still on the bestseller list. He was currently in talks for his own MTV Network show for either BET or MTV U. Basically they were trying to reincarnate Loveline but with him and his video blog as the focus. Embarrassment possibilities were endless, Chad thought as he walked up to the podium.

"My name is Dr. Chad Evans and I am a sex expert." All students laughed except for the twins who were hiding beneath the seats. A few of the parents and some of the teachers look equally embarrassed and/or angry. Miss Ramos the teacher in charge of organizing career day just chuckled to herself, having most likely read his biography.

"That explains why a 32 year old has 14 year old children." This was said by a certain smart ass that attacks his daughter on a regular basis, name William. He hated that boy.

"Honestly the circumstances behind that are none of your damn business especially considering your mom is just slightly older than me and your father is old enough to be my grandfather." He said quickly causing the other students to laugh. "I'm an expert in the field of human sexual health and relationships because of my studies in the field of internal medicine, reproductive science, sexual health, and human behavior at some of the best institutions in the country." William in the front row looked like he was about to say something else but was stopped by one of the teachers.

"I'm sure the students here would love to know how you chose such an interesting field of study." Miss Ramos prompted.

"I've always loved learning, even if I wasn't comfortable with other people knowing that. I would read anything I could get my hands on. I was reading my mother's legal textbooks by the time I was eight years old. However, when you are a teenage boy there is one area that seems to hold your interest more than others and that's what I decided to focus on. I had a good professor in college who told me to find my passion. That's what I did. Next question?" He said as 20 hands went up.

* * *

March 31, 2009

Chad was highly annoyed right now. He was supposed to be meeting his incompetent academic adviser in 20 minutes but instead he was having to meet with his women's studies professor to get his midterm paper back, he assumed. Most likely it was so bad that she couldn't bring herself to give it to Chad in front of his wife and friends. Considering Sharpay's paper contained an actual apology and the business card from a detective that handles sexual assault cases in Albuquerque, it had to be really bad. Sharpay's paper focused on why women don't report sexual assaults rather than sexual assault itself and included the many reasons why Sharpay personally didn't tell anybody when it happened to her. He was proud that she was willing to write about that.

"If you hated my paper that much, you could've told me in front of everybody. I have much more important things to worry about than how others perceive me. I have to meet my academic advisor in 19 minutes and my lawyer after that." Chad said impatiently.

"Mr. Danforth, I did not hate your paper. You wrote probably the best paper I have read in this class and that includes the paper that your girlfriend wrote. Your research was wonderful and your personal antidote added to the paper. The images included were a nice addition that brought your point across more than the words ever could. I wasn't expecting something like this from you." She said handing the paperback to him.

Chad wanted to say that she most likely only expected him to be in this class because Sharpay was in it but he just didn't have the energy to be overly snide this afternoon. Lots of homework and newborn twins do not allow for sufficient sleep for snarkiness.

"Thank you. Although Sharpay is no longer just my girlfriend, she is my wife. Also, I took her last name. So if you see Chad Evans on a paper, it's me. I'm surprised you didn't know. It made the society page." Chad said casually.

"I never read that page. Changing your last name doesn't surprise me considering what happened." She said with a sad expression. "Although, the marriage does. You both seem too intelligent to rush into such an outdated institution." She said with alarmed.

"The timing was a business decision more than anything else but I do love and respect her greatly. A piece of paper doesn't change that. It's just putting the commitment in writing. We currently have custody of my brother and sister, because of what happened." He said without elaborating.

"At least taking care of newborns explains why you fell asleep in my class last week." She said looking disapprovingly.

"Sorry about that, although I blame the sleep deprivation more on late night lawyer meetings then midnight feedings. We are in the middle of a major custody fight because Tiffany's mom doesn't want us to have the children even if custody papers signed by Tiffany say otherwise. As we all know Albuquerque family court would rather have children waste away in Foster Care than let someone who is part of a nontraditional family adopt. We did what we had to do to be seen as desirable." He explained.

"That's unfortunate." She said in an angry tone.

"But fortunately, I had someone who would do anything to help me keep Olivia and Isaac. If that's all, I have to meet with my incompetent student adviser in 15 minutes." Chad said getting up from his chair but she stopped him with a gesture of her hand.

"Actually, that's why I asked for you to meet me today. Your advisor sent me an e-mail after you told him that you were looking for a new major preferably something that did not involve computer programming. Anything not computer related is pretty much outside his area of expertise, therefore he asked me to speak with you." She explained as he sat back down.

"Yes, completely incompetent." Chad mumbled under breath. "I'm sure you will probably be able to provide me with more guidance than the alternative but I don't think Feminist Studies is going to be the best fit for me even if I do like some of the research possibilities." He added the last part hastily because he still wanted to pass this class. "Why did he ask you to help me?"

"That may have something to do with the fact that he's my brother." Chad face fell at that.

"I apologize for all my incompetent jokes." He said quickly hoping that his grade wasn't already in jeopardy.

"You don't need to. He's not the best academic adviser in the world or even at this school. He usually asks me to council any of his students considering a transfer to a non-science major. You are just the first student that he has asked me to help that has actually been in one of my classes. I'm not that popular with the computer science crowd. It's a lot easier to help a student when you know that they are very intelligent but their heart is just not into designing the next big video game or whatever." She said in a way that almost sounded like a joke. "Why do you want to change majors?

"I don't think I chose the right one in the first place. My dad always discouraged me from actually displaying my true intelligence or really thinking at all. He felt that I had the most potential on the basketball court and only the basketball court. My mom was terrified that I would end up like her and therefore never pushed me. I think she was afraid of becoming her father who pushed her too hard and therefore she rebelled by having me at 17. I think I chose computer science because it was easy and no one would question that decision. In high school, I played the part of the dumb jock perfectly, because I wasn't comfortable being myself. Now that I am, I'm not sure if I want to be designing video games in 15 years. However, I also have the twins to consider in whatever decision I make. For all intensive purposes I am a Dad now." He explained honestly.

"Kids do change everything. I can see your point considering that you already have a majority of the class is needed for the computer science degree before you even got here. Let's start with a simple question, what type of classes do you like?" She asked.

"It's not that I hate computer science, it's just not exciting. I can do the work in my computer classes but I hate it now. I think that is why I pretty much avoided taking any of those classes this year and focused more on the general stuff like calculus and physics. I like your class, eccept when I get a project that makes me highly uncomfortable." He said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry about what happened. If I knew that you and Sharpay accidentally chose highly sensitive issues I would have given you both different subjects for your midterm project. Despite that, you both did very well on your projects." She said with a smile that seemed genuine.

"We didn't want special treatment." He explained quickly. "Honestly, I like any class where I'm not bored to tears. That happened a lot in high school before I started taking mostly college classes. I'm always learning something new or getting to work on some interesting project. I like research and connecting the dots. Nobody likes Calculus or Physics but it's okay but it's not really a challenge. Actually I enjoy teaching Kim the material more than I actually like the class." He said honestly.

"If you like teaching, you can always consider a career in education." She suggested. The thought alone scared him.

"Not going to happen. I enjoy explaining how things work, but not to the really young. Maybe, I could deal with college students, but high school students would eat me alive. I have helped Sharpay out a few times during her rehearsals for the play she is putting on with students from every high school in the city. I don't know how she does it. They drive me crazy after only a few moments. I just don't have the patience for it." He would have also mentioned something about the fact that he was constantly molested by teenage girls (and a few boys) but his professor did not need to know that.

"I've heard about that. It's a very ambitious project." Chad translates that to mean 'I can't believe she has the time to do that and everything else.' He can't either but it is Sharpay. She can do anything if she puts her mind to it. She also gets a lot of work done when she cannot fall back to sleep after a two AM feeding.

"It is Sharpay's passion, so of course she's going to throw everything into it. She loves writing. It's her favorite thing to do. It's her favorite stress relief activity and she has a lot of stress right now. She is an excellent storyteller. I catch her telling the babies crazy original bedtime stories every night. I think I want that." Chad said wistfully.

"To be a writer?" She asked.

"To find something I am passionate about." He responded.

"I think we all want that. You just need to fine your passion. I think try different things next semester will be the best way to do that. Take a bunch of different classes that you would not normally take. You already have a lot of your basic classes out of the way and they will switch over no matter what you choose. You're in good shape if you want to take a semester off to look around a little bit. Since you've already taken so many computer classes you can do a minor in computer science." The professor suggested wisely.

"What classes do you suggest?" He asked hoping for a little more guidance.

"I suggest more women studies classes since you do actually like them. Maybe some Latino studies or African American studies classes as well. Actually, I suggest you look at the class catalog and just choose anything that is interesting." He could do that, if he could ever find the time. He and Sharpay have already decided that they would stay at A of U next year until they get the handle of being parents then they would transfer somewhere that would work with his new major (if he ever figured one out).

"I could do that. Well this was slightly more helpful than what Sharpay suggested." He said sarcastically.

"What did your wife suggest?" Apparently, sarcasm was lost on this professor.

"That's not important. She wasn't being serious." He said quickly not wanting to tell her.

"I would still like to know." She pushed.

"She suggested sex." Chad said as his face became warmer hoping she would let it drop there.

"Human reproduction or the human behavior aspect of it?" She asked in complete seriousness, causing him to nearly fall out of his chair.

"Probably both, she knows I like researching and reading things on the subject." He said giving up on avoiding this conversation.

"When you say research are you talking about watching pornography or reading journal articles?" He could not believe she actually asked that.

"Mostly the latter, although I did find the Kama Sutra quite interesting." He said resisting the urge to smirk.

"That's not really pornography, more like anthropology. You might find introduction to anthropology interesting. I suggest that for next semester along with child development. The latter may help with your personal situation. Also, have you taken any biology classes?" She asked almost out of nowhere.

"I will think about those two classes. Last year I took a college level biology class. I liked it a lot more than physics. Who wouldn't enjoy a class where you get to dissect a pig?" He said with another smirk.

"I personally despised it, but it was a requirement." She remarked before asking him a lot of different questions about classes that he has taken. He also mentioned all the research he has been doing regarding the Tiffany situation.

"Have you ever considered premed? You may do good in it, if you survived the pig thing. It also seems to be something that you find interesting. Bonus, the majority of your classes will transfer over." Again, that sounded like a joke.

"One of Tiffany's doctors has suggested it more than once, especially after he caught me reading some of Tiffany's old textbooks when I was visiting because I was bored. I've had a lot of wonderful organic chemistry assistants this semester." He joked.

"How do you feel about it?" She asked again.

"I find it interesting." He said with a smile.

"That's a good starting point. I will send you a few more suggested classes to sign up for next semester. I assume you have a lawyer to see about some twins." She said finally letting him leave.

* * *

April 7, 2023

East High Vice Principle Office

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Penelope Castro sat in her relatively new office despising her boss. Whose idea was it to make the vice principal in charge of organizing a high school reunion? It was probably her boss' husband's idea or possibly her stepsister. If she remembered correctly, Taylor McKessie was student council president for the East High class of 2008. She should be sending out the invitations to her own peers and haggling over catering prices instead Penelope was stuck doing it because Taylor was too focus on the special election to fill the seat of a career politician in Maryland who got caught with his pants down.

About 34 years ago the guy slept with an intern, got her pregnant, and then tried to have her killed to get rid of any evidence of his 'indiscretion'. The whole messy thing came out in the Washington Post due to a series of coincidences involving a political correspondent having his son's star-studded bar mitzvah planned by basketball husband and D. C. party planner extraordinaire Marc Zara who told him part of the story after finding out when he was planning Jay Kim's funeral. (Yes, that Marc who she went to college with who is now married to Washington Wizards' player Jimmy Zara who she worked with as a student in drama club.) Vanessa Kim got a little too drunk at her husband's funeral, that Marc was all too happy to help her plan as a favor to his BFF Taylor. You will be amazed what someone will let slip when she is picking out the casket for the love of her life who just died of a heart attack. Personally, Penelope does not believe that Marc accidentally let the whole thing slip to the Washington Post reporter, especially considering the fact that he's now Taylor's campaign manager.

The fact that Taylor was the baby in Question didn't stop her from running for his seat. The top Stanford and Berkeley graduate and President of the Washington based Tiffany Jackson Foundation for the Prevention of Domestic Violence had a pretty good chance of winning. If Penelope had lived in Maryland, she probably would have voted for Taylor even though they don't like each other very much. Taylor is still mad at Penelope for setting Ryan up with his future husband Zack the summer between freshman year and sophomore year of college. Did Taylor really think he would just wait for her to get her act together? Love doesn't work like that, she should know. Penelope was 33 and single, but she is really not that upset about that (unlike some political hopefuls that she knows). Taylor should just get over herself.

Penelope is convinced that putting her in charge of organizing the class of 2008 high school reunion was her punishment for her role in Ryan finding some happiness. This wasn't fair (especially because the pair in question were already starting to hook up on their own before she gave Ryan a little push.)

Penelope was not even going to her own high school reunion. There really wasn't anyone from her high school years that she wanted to connect with. To be completely honest she had more friends from the East High class of 2008 then her own class. She was great friends with Troy, even if he was out of New Mexico half of the time due to his career, mostly because he was married to her boss. She was close to Ryan because he was married to Zack, who she has been friends with since she met him at age five when she was stuck living with her cousins for the summer. They were always visiting her in Albuquerque at least twice a year. She is also friends with Sharpay because they were able to bond over mutual misery. Chad was actually her best friend even if he lived in New York now. Moments like these make her wonder if she went to the right high school.

She didn't want to deal with the pettiness that came with a high school reunion. She was happy with her life and really didn't care that she hasn't got laid in a good 10 months or had a steady boyfriend since the first term of the Hillary Clinton administration. Unfortunately, others would just see her as 33 and unmarried. She didn't need to spend time with the small minded idiots of West High and therefore she was not going to go.

She also didn't want to be labeled a traitor because she was now working for the 'enemy'. She had got over the silly rivalry but others lived in the Glory days of high school (they were never her glory days). Penelope has moved on. She had been the drama teacher at East High for the last eight years before being promoted to Vice Principal after an unfortunate scandal involving her predecessor's inappropriate touching of a freshman in a supply closet.

It wasn't her fault that West High no longer had a drama program. They would have one if they would accept a grant from the Vance Evans

Foundation for the Performing Arts. Penelope had to completely rebuild the program from scratch after principle moron dismantled it. She was given the job because she was one of the three people who kept high school drama alive in Albuquerque through a special program hosted by A of U and a grant from the Garden Foundation. (Yes, the garden foundation was started by Beijing Gardens and Kim Bolton.)

Thankfully, Ms. Ortega was principle moron's successor after the school board decided to blame him for East High losing the state championship three years in a row after scaring Coach Bolton back to grad school. Even though Kim is now principal after Ms. Ortega took a new job at one of the cushy prep schools in town Coach Bolton still will not come back. He's having much more fun running the Garden Foundation's programs for underprivileged students.

It was an entire year after she took the job that the school had musicals again. She finds it ironic that Miss Darbus lost her battle with cancer the night the curtain went up on the first production. Sharpay suggested at the funeral that she was sticking around to make sure that her legacy was passed on to the next generation and Penelope allowed her to finally pass on in peace.

Penelope put so much of herself into making the East High drama program great again, that she almost did not want to take this promotion. Thankfully Kim found somebody halfway competent from the local theater scene for the rest of this semester. It helps when your husband is a famous actor and singer (American Star Maker finalist 2010). Besides she couldn't say no to the woman who put a roof over her head and helped her pay for college after Richard's uncle had her cheerleading scholarship revoked and had her removed from the team as retaliation. She would not have made it through college without Kim's generosity she owed the woman a lot.

That is probably the same reason why she is helping organize this stupid reunion even though she went to another high school. The worst part was sending out the invitations surprisingly. Other than negotiating a price, the catering was easy. Her ex boyfriend Zeke owns several restaurants in town after becoming head chef at the restaurant in Chicago's Michigan Gardens at 21 making him the youngest head chef at any Beijing Gardens restaurant (all made possible by a chance meeting with Kim's grandfather who tasted his cuisine.) Zeke offered to take care of the menu like he should since this is his class reunion and he moved back to town two years ago with his then two-year-old daughter after his first marriage came undone.

Of course, he is in the middle of planning the wedding for his second marriage that will take place the day after the reunion, so he was probably having his assistant do it. Penelope didn't care as long as she did not have to do it. He owes her for making this wedding possible because she was the one who set him up with Amanda again after he caught his wife of five years fucking around with one of his 'friends'. (It took all her strength not to break into What Goes Around /Comes Around when he told her.) The first time around with Amanda fell apart because neither could do a long distance relationship when Zeke ended up back in Chicago to finish culinary school and Amanda stayed here even after she changed majors to Diversity Studies. Amanda was now the Chief Diversity Officer at Evans international.

She would ask Amanda to help her out but Penelope doesn't think it's fair for her to ask another non alumni to help her with this process that was taking forever. Even now, not everybody has a Face Book page and even though they started including e-mail addresses in the phone book (not that it was an actual book anymore) some people kept their e-mails unlisted like Sharpay and Troy for obvious reasons. Thankfully, she had access to the hardest ones to find but it still took a week to find everyone else. She was just about to press the send button on the invitation with the 200 E mail addresses that she somehow managed to find for various alumni when she saw an e-mail from the New Mexico department of corrections in her mailbox. She just assumed it was another notice for Richard's upcoming parole hearing. Considering what happen 14 years ago she is surprised that they are contacting her but considering it just came out that Richard's uncle bought the Albuquerque DA when he ran for a senate seat maybe there was a change of heart.

She opened the e-mail anyway, shocked at the contents. Penelope knew that everything was done via e-mail now but something like this still warranted a phone call in her opinion.

* * *

**April 8, 2009**

"What the fuck do you mean you're dropping the charges?" Penelope asked shaking not caring about her language.

"In light of recent evidence and news articles brought to her attention the DA does not believe your entire account of events without collaborating evidence. There's just not enough evidence to support your claim according to the DA." The ADA explained because her boss was too big of a coward to tell Penelope in person that she was dropping her case. You can tell from her voice that the ADA was not happy about this.

"Like hell there is not. Other than my statement there is the pictures of my bruises and damaged clothing. Then there's the fact that an entire common room filled with students heard me trying to get away from him. They saw me collapse in the common room." Penelope responded.

"You are a cheerleader. It's quite common for you to receive bruises and abrasions or at least that's what my boss said." The bitterness is obvious in her words.

"Not in the shape of a hand." Penelope's attorney argued and the ADA just nodded sadly. Her attorney Miss Mason worked for the same firm as Kim's stepmom and came with her because Kim was very wary of the district attorney's office. Apparently, her new roommate had a reason to be cautious.

"Unfortunately, most of the witnesses have recanted their statements. Those that have not are close personal friends of Miss Castro. My boss is worried about how a jury will see this." By the way she said this Penelope was not sure the ADA completely believed this. However, that did not matter if her boss did.

"That is complete and utter bullshit." Penelope said walking out of the office. She was on the verge of tears and barely made it to the restroom before she exploded. She refused to cry in front of the ADA.

"Are you okay?" She heard a voice ask that she recognized. She wondered if it would be better if it was a complete stranger instead of Sharpay. She didn't feel any shame in being caught crying in the ladies room because Sharpay's mascara was already running as well.

"I should be asking you that question." Penelope shot back as she pointed to Sharpay's damaged makeup.

"I'm fine. These are happy tears. The judge sided with us. We get to keep the babies." Despite everything that actually made Penelope smile. She knew that Sharpay actually loved those babies a lot more than that woman who reminded Penelope too much of her own absentee mother.

"Well at least the justice system only screwed one of us over. The DA's Office is dropping all charges against the bastard. Thanks to buying off witnesses and smearing my reputation the DA doesn't think that they have a case."

"Fuck," Penelope heard Sharpay and the woman in the handicapped stall that she assumes to be Kim, due to hearing a few more curse words in mandarin come from that direction, scream.

"This is my fault. If I just went to the police when he actually raped me this would have never happened. Now, he's just going to get away with it again unless the next girl shows up in a body bag." Sharpay says on the verge of frustrated tears.

"His uncle will probably just buy his way out of it again, like this time." Penelope mumbled in annoyance.

"Richard actually raped you?" Asked the same ADA who destroyed her faith in the legal system moments earlier.

"Why the hell do you care? You didn't believe me, why would you believe her. There probably wouldn't be enough evidence. Your boss will argue that she gave herself the GHB." Penelope responded with biting sarcasm.

"I also took a shower before Kim over there dragged me to the hospital. All the good stuff went down the drain." She said just as sarcastically.

"I know you are upset. I wasn't the one who dropped the charges I'm just the one who was forced to tell you because my boss decided to drop the case for reasons that I don't want to know about and she is nowhere near as strong as you are. I believe you." She said looking directly into Penelope's eyes.

"Then why is the case being dropped?" She asked on the verge of tears.

"I don't know but if my boss starts driving a new BMW soon, we will all have our answer." Penelope snorted at that.

"I don't want him to walk anymore than you do. If what you said is true it will be a lot harder for him to make the charges go away this time." The ADA explained.

"Unfortunately, the evidence really did go down the drain three years ago even though thanks to my money I'm sure I will be a little bit more believable then Penelope." Sharpay said sardonically.

"Not all of it. They still did a rape kit even though you did not want to press charges. They took pictures of your injuries at AMC and did a toxicology. They have your clothing too. Your father also had a private investigator look at the crime scene for evidence in case you ever changed your mind." Kim explained.

"He was underage at the time anyway and what about the statue of limitations? It's been three years." Sharpay asked looking for any excuse.

"We have time." The ADA said. "As for the age thing, when exactly did this assault take place?"

"April 15, 2006," Sharpay told her shivering.

"He turned 18 on February 17 2006. He was held back a few times for sports. It wouldn't matter anyway because of the nature of the crime." The attorney explained.

"If you really feel guilty for what he did to me, you have to do this. He will go free if you don't. Do you want to be responsible when the next girl really does show up in a body bag?" She said grabbing Sharpay's hand. "You have the power to make sure he never hurts anyone again."

"Okay," Was all Sharpay said.

* * *

**April 7, 2023**

Sharpay stayed silent the entire subway ride back from her doctor's office. Ryan just squeezed her hand in support not saying a word. That is why she chose to bring him instead of Chad. Her husband would be reciting meaningless statistics and going over there medical options. Her brother gives her silence, which is exactly what she needs at this moment.

Instead of going back to the apartment, Ryan points her to the Starbucks two blocks from where they live. It is the type of Starbucks that sells wine, but she doesn't drink anymore. She hasn't consumed a drop since Darby died of alcohol poisoning three years ago. Instead, she sticks to a nonfat vanilla cappuccino and the giant brownie that Ryan makes her get because he knows that she hasn't eaten anything all day because she was so nervous. Ryan has a glass of wine, probably to work up his nerve to address the elephant that they both have been avoiding since Dr. Rose told her that attempt number two trillion at making baby Chadpay did not work and was never going to work. It's not the first time but it still hurts just as much. Actually, it feels a million times worse every time, not that she would ever tell anybody that. 10 years of trying and nothing to show for it. She would cry but they were in public and she is pretty sure that at least one person from TMZ is in the coffee shop.

"I would ask if you were okay but I already know the answer is no." Ryan said as he took another drink of his wine.

"You're such a good little brother. I'm not okay. I'm nowhere near okay. But it's all right. It didn't work. It's never going to work. I just need to accept that. I don't need you to baby sit me. I'm not going to fall apart the second you leave. Don't you have a husband to prepare for?" She suggested hoping Ryan would just let her sulk in private.

"His plane doesn't land for another 3 hours. I'm here because I want to be. You were never that good at taking no for an answer." Ryan said with a smirk.

"Yes but it's been 10 years and four miscarriages. I think I just need to accept that baby Chadpay is just not going to happen." She said as she inhaled half of her brownie.

"It's not the worst thing in the world. I'm never going to be able to have a child with my husband either. If Kim did not start early, she would be in the same boat because of what happened with she who will not be named." Ryan said referencing the one day 14 years ago that neither talked about.

"I know that Ryan." She said with a sigh.

"You already have two wonderful children. Is it such a bad thing that they are not biologically yours?" Ryan asked.

"It's not a bad thing, not at all. I love Olivia and Isaac more than anything in the universe. From the moment they were placed in my arms, they were mine. I have always known that. We would not have fought so hard if that wasn't the case. It's just that ever since I was 18, I've had this idea in my head that we would have a little girl with my smile and his hair. It's hard to let go of a dream. Remember how long it took me to let go of seeing my name in lights on Broadway." Sharpay explained with a sigh.

"But here's the thing Pay, your name is in lights on Broadway. Instead of performing in the next great musical, you wrote it."

"With my writing partner Jason M." Sharpay interrupted.

"Doesn't matter. _Scenes from an American High School_ is like the new _Rent_. Your mantle is still filled with Tony awards. Your follow-up _Scenes from Freshman Year_ opened last month to great reviews and more Tony talk. _Taming of the Drama Queen _was turned into a movie that was a top grosser. That's not even to mention your highly successful series of children's books. I thought MTV Networks was in talks to turn it into a series for Nick Junior?" He question.

"They were but a few of the executives are freaked out that the children's book lady is married to the star of their new sex education talk show. We'll see what happens." Sharpay said with a shrug.

"You still got your dream, it just didn't happen the way you were expecting it to. So you cannot carry the child yourself. It's not that big of a deal. What about a gestational carrier? That's what Kim and Troy did. We all know that your egg and Chad's sperm are good at getting together. That's better than Troy and Kim's situation." Sharpay only has time to laugh at his comment before her phone rings.

"It's Penelope. She's probably calling to complain about being forced to organize the class of 2008 high school reunion." Sharpay explained. That was what she complained about the entire time she called last time.

"Better her, than me." Ryan remarked as he took another drink of his wine.

"Hi Penelope." She said as soon as Penelope's face appeared on the screen. "Even though she is my best friend I cannot convince your boss to give this to someone else. You know that nobody can convince Kim to do something that she doesn't want to do."

"I'm not calling about that. Besides I've come to the conclusion that I'm being given grunt work because half of the staff is furious that I got the Vice Principle job at 33. If this is to avoid accusations of nepotism, I will do it."

"Who cares what they think. You never have before." Sharpay told her.

"Never will either, but I care about Kim and she doesn't need the extra stress. The reason why I called is I got a letter or rather an e-mail from the Albuquerque Department of Corrections. I thought I should call you because I doubt the department is going to be able to find you without going through your publicist. That will take forever and I know how you absolutely despised finding stuff out on CNN." She said most likely referring to how Sharpay found out that Darby was dead. No one should find out their mother died from reading their favorite news web site, no matter how horrible their relationship was. Then she could have been referring to what happen 14 years ago this month, but that was Ryan, not her.

"Better than Twitter. Please tell me they're not letting that serial rapist get out?" She asked with trepidation.

It turns out she was not the only girl that Richard successfully raped. Within hours of her decision to press charges against Richard for what he did to her, the story was conveniently leaked to the media most likely in an attempt to discredit her or to get her to change her mind. She was too well hated at school for the techniques that he used on Penelope to work on her so he had to resort to using the media immediately. After dealing with Darby's mind games for years, she knew how to play the media to her advantage. Within two days, four other women came forward. Most were convinced that nobody would believe them since Richard came from such a powerful family but because she spoke up, they would too. Richard's bastard of an uncle and the District Attorney couldn't make this disappear. There were too many Marches on the lawn of the Albuquerque courthouse and the A of U campus for that to happen. He was able to get a plea bargain for 20 years with the chance of parole after 10 years. Every year for the last four, Sharpay has been sending a letter asking that Richard not be released. Apparently, because she is a celebrity her word carries more credence with the parole board then his other victims. This is one time that Sharpay is happy to use her celebrity status for the greater good.

"You know that wasn't going to happen. His uncle is now the laughing stock of Albuquerque after all his dirty laundry came out a few years ago. Besides the parole board absolutely loves you. Apparently, there were more victims than the five that came forward." Penelope said gravely.

"Of course there were more, there was you." Sharpay said not understanding.

"Yeah well in this case almost doesn't count. Not all the details were in the letter, but Richard was killed last night by a new inmate. The person who did it said it was revenge for Richard raping his then 14 year old sister." Sharpay practically dropped her phone she was so shocked.

"Is it wrong that part of me considers this good news?" She wondered out loud as she recovered.

"Not really." Penelope said with a sad smile. "I felt the same way once the shock when away. I think I was mostly relieved that he can't hurt anyone else. I actually am surprised this hasn't made the news yet. But that may have something to do with the fact that a plane just crashed in the Nevada desert." She instantly thinks of her brother in law of seven years who was out west taking a bunch of meetings in person for Beijing Gardens because some people are not used to doing everything by video conference yet. Ryan hates that part of his job.

"What is his flight number?" Sharpay asked as she heard a wine glass shattered to the floor. Ryan looked as pale as could be as he stared motionless at his phone screen. She looked at her phone to see Penelope equally pale. Obviously, her mind went to the same place Ryan's did. She didn't end the call because Penelope was already in tears but she focused on her brother first.

"You don't know Ryan. Maybe he was on another flight. You know he always misses his flight. You don't know Ryan." She said as she pulled him closer to her. He just burst into tears. TMZ was going to love this.

**XXX**

**Saturday April 25, 2009**

Sharpay was backstage celebrating with everyone else. Okay they were not really backstage but rather in one of the classrooms adjacent to the Cesar Chavez auditorium, but it was the after party for her best musical ever and she didn't make one single appearance in it herself. Everyone else was celebrating the successful completion of A _Very High School Musical _complete with music, good food, and nonalcoholic beverages since most of the cast was under 18 except for a few exceptions like Chad and Zeke who played teachers as part of their final grade for Acting 101. Her husband was absolutely wonderful as the basketball coach. Considering East and West high students were able to get along for the duration of this musical and they were able to put together the entire thing in under two months, it truly deserved celebration.

Penelope and she were celebrating the news that Richard would be spending the next 20 years behind bars. They just received word of the plea bargain right before the show. He deserved more time, but she was happy he was going to serve any at all. It was a moment worth celebrating. Too bad Kim wasn't there yet.

Sharpay was truly happy. Her life was good. She was married to the most wonderful man in the world. She had two wonderful children (even if it was because their biological mother was still in a coma) that no one was going to take away from her. Her grades were better right now although that was probably because the twins were sleeping more. Even her mother couldn't touch her now that Sharpay was the one in charge of her and Ryan's trust fund. Her life wasn't perfect by any means, but it was good.

Maybe that's why everything fell apart in the next moment. It seemed like every single phone in the room when off at the same time but it was really only the phones of the actual A of U students in the room. The message was vague but scary enough. Shots were fired on campus. Shelter in place.

"What are you doing?" Chad asked her as she goes to make a phone call.

"Calling Kim. She's not here yet." Sharpay said with worry.

"She is probably fine. She was the one escorting the grownups here. For all we know they all decided it would be better to go back home to relieve the baby sitter. Everything's OK." Chad said trying to reassure her but there was something in his eyes that told her he did not believe the words he was saying.

"You're right, I am being paranoid." She told him as she leaned in for a kiss not completely believing her words.

"Let's focus on keeping the high school kids in here nice and calm." She just nodded and did what he suggested. 30 minutes later when Caroline walks into the room with blood splatters on her cream colored business suit, it made Sharpay realizes her paranoia was justified. Caroline just wraps her arms around Sharpay and whispers, "I'm sorry."

"Is it Kim?" Sharpay asked shaking. She did not know what she would do if her best friend was dead.

"She's breathing and but it's bad. She is on her way to AMC. I don't know how the crazy Bitch got out. Lucy had a gun but your father got in the way. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Caroline kept repeating as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Are they taking my father to AMC?" Sharpay asked her with eerie calm.

"It is too late for that." Caroline said in a whisper as Sharpay feels herself falling to the ground as if her legs collapsed under their own weight. Chad was beneath her holding her tightly as everything shattered around her.

* * *

Gabriella is glad that Madison's boyfriend decided that Troy needed a boy's night out. More importantly, she is happy that he made Troy leave his cell at phone home. That left Gabriella to answer the shaky phone call from a crying Jack. Lucy finely made good on her threats despite her bail being revoked, supposedly. After being quiet since the beginning of March, they all assumed everything would be okay. The false sense of security led to Kim being in critical condition and Mr. Evans being dead. From what jack told her, when Lucy turned the gun on Caroline after shooting Kim multiple times Mr. Evans tackled her to the ground. Whatever happened next was enough to kill him. Jack did not give many details even if he saw everything. Considering that Lucy shot Kim in the uterus multiple times, Gabriella was sure that the unborn baby was gone too. The thing is so sick Gabriella is almost sad that the governor of New Mexico suspended the death penalty last month.

Gabriella throws up twice before she can do anything. She calls Taylor but she already knows and was on her way to the train station to take the _Acela _to New York. Even though they broke up last month, Taylor knew she needed to be there. Gabriella is given the unpleasant task of calling Kelsey because they both know that Ryan cannot be alone right now. With very little prodding she agrees to wait for Ryan at his apartment.

She goes into Troy's room and prepares a bag for him because she knows Troy won't be able to. Amanda called her a few minutes ago to let her know they were on a 4:30 AM flight to New Mexico. When Gabriella comes across a pair of Kim's lacy underwear, she begins to cry. If Kim does not survive, it will kill a part of Troy. Losing the baby will be bad enough.

He finds her sobbing on his bed with a half packed suitcase. That's when she explains everything. The only thing she could do is hold him as he cried.

* * *

It is a typical Saturday night although this time his friends were dragging him around to every single club in the state and New Jersey to find him a new girlfriend or boyfriend. Actually, they've been doing that the last month after the end of his just sex relationship with Taylor. He personally finds it ridiculous but he doesn't say anything. It is a little after one when Ryan makes it back to his apartment, alone. It was nice being out of the dorms even if his father stayed here whenever he was in town. Considering the situation with Sharpay he hasn't been in New York a lot recently. Ryan sees that as a good thing.

He gets out of the cab only to see his ex girlfriend arguing with the door person to let her in.

"Kelsey, whatever it is I don't care. I don't want to see you right now." She tries to speak again but he doesn't let her.

"Again I don't care. Whatever it is, it can wait till Monday." He said moving right past her without looking back.

"I don't even know why I tried. I'm only here because Gabriella and Jackie asked me to tell you in person instead of you finding out in a phone call. Call your brother in law." She shouted just as the elevator doors closed behind him.

He checks the phone as he walks to his apartment. He has five missed calls one from his sister, two from Chad, and two more from Taylor but he doesn't think anything of it. Maybe his sister's play was a disaster but why was Kelsey at his apartment to tell him that? Nothing made sense. He probably should just go ahead and call Chad to alleviate his nervousness.

As is Ryan's habit, he turns on the television as he walks into the apartment. It is on CNN and he instantly recognizes the picture on the screen as the A of U campus. There were police cars everywhere and he can't help but wonder if something bad happened to Sharpay. Was that why Kelsey was here? He already had his phone in his hand to call Chad when he saw the caption, "Evans international President, Vince Evans dead at 49." With those simple words, his world crashed down around him.

To be continued

The next chapter is going through editing and should be up within a week. My goal is to get the entire story up by the end of the month.


	49. The Future is in the Past 2

Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. This is the second to last chapter of this story. It is also the longest chapter in the entire story (until possibly the next one.) For this story, that is saying something.

Warning: More dark subject matter and funerals. Also there is some sex in this.

* * *

**The Future is in the Past: Part two**

April 9, 2023 New York City

Taylor slowly made her way through the throng of reporters outside of Sharpay's apartment building. It seemed too reminiscent of when she had to do this in the middle of the night, 14 years ago. Instead of coming down from Boston, she was coming up from Maryland. The only real difference was the trip took half as long thanks to the new Acela + line. Unfortunately, she's here for the same reason as last time, except this time it was the death of a husband instead of the death of a father. She couldn't decide what was more unforeseen dying trying to protect your daughter's mother in law or dying in a plane crash because of speculated mechanical failure. Both were equally tragic and unexpected.

According to Sharpay, Ryan has not left her guest room except to go to the bathroom since yesterday, not even to eat. This doesn't surprise her. Vanessa did the same thing last year when Jay died. Actually, she broke every single dish in the house before she locked herself in a second floor bedroom. She even dismantled the chairlift just so it would be that much harder for Kim to come after her and Kimi was too emotionally distraught to try. They couldn't get her to come out until Taylor arrived two days later. That was a mess.

At least she didn't hear the sounds of broken dishes as she knocked on the penthouse door. That had to be a good sign. Olivia answered the door. She looked a lot like Chad except a little darker but she did style her hair the same way he did in high school. Her dress was black and her eyes were obviously red from crying. Olivia was particularly close to her uncle; his unexpected death probably hit her hard as well. The only thing Taylor could do was to hug the young girl.

"Aunt Taylor, I am so glad you're here." She says squeezing her tighter. That's what the girl always called her probably because she spent too much time with Alex who really was her nephew when they all lived in California together.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Taylor said letting go. It seems like the right thing to say especially because they were not just empty words. She liked Zack even if part of her felt like he took her second chance with Ryan away from her. By the time she got her head together enough for a real relationship with anyone by the end of her first year at Stanford, Ryan was already in a long distance relationship with Penelope's friend, Zack. Unlike her and Chad, Ryan and Zack could actually do the long distance thing successfully. It helped that he got a job right out of college working for Beijing Gardens international in the New York Office. She thought it wouldn't last more than a year, it lasted more than 13 and only ended with an explosion in the Nevada Desert.

They're still not quite sure why flight 724 crashed. There is speculation, but no answers. To Ryan who just lost his husband of six years, it really didn't matter. His husband was dead.

"I'm okay, mostly. Well, I'm as okay as you can be after your uncle dies in a plane crash. I feel guilty but that's all. At least I'm not as bad as Uncle Ryan. He has not even cried since he got the official phone call. He just sits there. I even brought him his favorite croissant from down the street and nothing." The teenager explains.

Her words do not surprise Taylor. It was the exact same thing she saw 14 years ago. He sat on the couch with a vacant expression as CNN played in the background, details of the shooting played on a loop. To this day, she has no idea how long he just sat there alone in his apartment being completely unresponsive. It's better this time. He has Sharpay and Chad along with the twins. Really, the only thing that does surprise Taylor is that Olivia feels guilty.

"Why do you feel guilty? It is not your fault that his plane crashed. Some things just happen." Taylor doesn't like saying something like that to a 14 year old, but it's the only thing that applies to something so random.

"I should have begged him to stay for career day. If he stayed, then he wouldn't have been on the plane." Olivia explains in perfect teenager logic. She's not sure how to respond to such a statement except to remember something from a conversation she had with Kim years ago after a particularly bad breakup with a guy who was a complete ass which led to her lamenting over the fact that she let Ryan get away.

"_The future is in the past." Kim said with wisdom beyond her 23 years._

"_What does that mean?" Taylor said taking another drink of whatever alcohol was on hand._

"_It means playing the 'what if' game is pointless. You can't change your past choices. Those choices are responsible for the present. Only the decisions you make now can make any difference because they affect your future." Kim explained._

"_That's a wonderful philosophy in theory. I need more alcohol to accept it." Taylor said reaching for the bottle but Kim pulled it away from her._

"_No you don't. You do not get to have a pity party tonight. So you lost your chance with Ryan and he is now hopelessly in love with someone else! So what? That's life. Being single is not the end of the world. On the bright side, at lease you can still walk." She said with a smile as she placed the liquor bottle in the pocket of her wheelchair._

"_You're at the point that you can joke about being paralyzed?" Taylor asked her step sister._

"_It's been nearly two years. I can either laugh about it or cry and I did most of the crying in the hospital. I could be playing the 'what if' game. Maybe if I went to the after party directly instead of hanging out with the parents, I wouldn't have been there when Lucy shot up the place. Then I would still have the ability to walk, my uterus still in working condition, and Caroline's daughter Vangie would have a built in played mate. But here's the thing, maybe if I wasn't there things would be a lot worse. Lucy most likely would have started with Caroline and where would we be now?" Kim asked making Taylor picture the worst case scenario of Caroline dying that night as well. That would have destroyed Jack and Chad._

"_You have a point." Taylor said grudgingly._

"_You can't change the past; you can only learn to live with the consequences of it."_

"_Is that why you went back to school to finish up your education training as soon as you could? You don't need to work. I know Troy just got a record deal. Besides you're still the heir apparent to Beijing Gardens." Taylor pointed out._

"_Why not? I'm in a wheelchair not dead. If I act like I am, then Lucy wins. You know how much I hate letting the bitch win. So what if I cannot have more kids? I have Alex and a husband who loves me completely, wheelchair and all. I can't live the life I could've had, but I can live the life I have now. Dwelling on what you can't have will just eat you up from the inside." Kim explained._

"Baby, there's no point of playing the what if game. It will eat you up from inside." Taylor said quoting Kim's words in the present.

"Besides, I think I did a wonderful job yesterday. Although, I am a little worried about your friend Kimber confessing to me that her period is late and she's been sexually active for over a year." Chad said looking worried.

"She's not my friend! I don't have any among the young and shallow. However, I'd told her to talk to you before but she was afraid. You're like the cool parent at my school."

"I see you are continuing a longstanding family tradition of turning career day into a public service announcement for the greater good. I still remember ninth grade when your mom talked about child welfare services." Taylor said with half a smile.

"Did Graham really do that?" Olivia asked. "Were you just as mortified as I was yesterday?"

"Yes." Both Chad and Taylor say simultaneously although she was sure he was saying yes to the latter question.

"I'm not sure that's possible. Graham Bolton probably never talked about making out with one of your uncle's onstage. Did you have to tell everybody about kissing Uncle Ryan in high school? We are already targeted enough as it is. Next year we are getting Grandpa Jack to come up. There is no way a former assistant college basketball coach can be embarrassing." Olivia muttered as she made her way to the kitchen. This place is huge for being in Manhattan.

"Do I want to know how that conversation came about? Taylor asked as soon as she was sure Olivia was out of the room.

"Not really although I'm banned from another school career day for answering questions about bisexuality. I'm glad you're here." Chad said kissing her on the cheek.

"Nothing will keep me away even if my campaign manager is unbelievably irritated that he has to rearrange my schedule." She said with half a smile remembering the argument that ensued. "Fortunately it was Marc so he understood." (Mostly because she now had wonderful blackmail material on him.) She kept that part to herself.

Because they lived in the same city (sort of) due to his husband now playing for the Wizards, Marc was her other BFF after Ryan. He was the one who convinced her to run as a third party candidate for the new Middle political party to take over her sperm donors vacant senate seat after the truth finally came out. She was not even the only child that he fathered outside of his marriage. She had two other brothers and three sisters on that side in addition to the two boys that he had with his actual wife. In the age of TMZ News, it was impossible for things to stay buried forever.

"How is our favorite basketball husband?" Chad asked.

"Absolutely fabulous, as usual, he offered to plan the funeral or at least have his business partner, Kerri, take care of that." Chad seemed relieved at her words. Just like 14 years ago she was sure he was the one holding everyone together. She remembered arriving to the house after being picked up by Zack. (Apparently by that point he and Ryan were already e-mail friends and he asked his new friend for a favor because he didn't want to bother anyone else. That was in her mind the beginning of the end.) Chad was the one making all the arrangements with Marc's help. He was the one dealing with the Evans international lawyers and the vulture like press. It was his job to keep Sharpay and Troy from falling apart.

"Thank god. I wasn't looking forward to going coffin shopping alone." He joked but it was only halfhearted.

"When have you ever had to do the funeral stuff alone? Marc has always been there. He's the only event planner I know that does funerals." She said in her own attempt at levity. It only got her half a smile.

"That's true. Then again he is the only party planner that also does political campaigns." Chad shot back.

"We have three more months to go until the election." She said being reasonable even if she was currently ahead by six points. Considering she was a third party candidate that was remarkable, then again the tabloids did help her with name recognition.

"But hey at least it is a special elections so you don't have to wait until November." Chad said with a smile that did not reach his eyes. She knew that Chad was very close to Zack. He was one of the few players that wasn't a complete bastard to him at A of U. He was also the one who was able to convince Chad to step back on the court when he transferred to Stanford. (Thankfully Chad was able to gain eligibility quite quickly.)

"I'm young. I'm barely old enough to be running for a senate seat." She says with a pause. "How bad is he?" she finally asked getting to the reason why she was here, Ryan.

"He brought out the Johnny Cash." Chad said with a grimace. "_Hurt_ has been playing on repeat for the last three hours."

"That's not good. Last time it was Emotions, both versions." She said remembering the music that Ryan listened to the entire plane ride to Albuquerque 14 years ago.

"Sharpay had an entire morning play list. When her dad died it had everything from Eminem to Backstreet Boys on it. When her Drama Mentor died there was lots of show tunes involved." Chad explained with another sad smile.

"God, I hate this. He was so young. They were thinking about starting a family." Taylor said taking a shaky breath, not sure how to continue. How much was lost because of a plane crash? How much has changed now? This can't be like 14 years ago.

"Come get a coffee before becoming philosophical." Chad says pulling her to the kitchen.

"Okay. I think the caffeine may do me some good." She said following him. The house that always seems so vibrant seemed lifeless. There was no loud music in the background or Ryan showing his niece and nephew the latest dance steps. Zack and Sharpay were not arguing over something silly. No Chad and Zack making snide comments about the absurdity that out of everyone it was little Jimmy that made it to the NBA. (Apparently trying to prove that the bisexual guy could play ball just as well as anyone else was the motivation he needed to become a phenomenal player.) The atmosphere seemed so awkward. The only sound that could be heard was the soft Johnny Cash coming from the guest bedroom. It was as if the whole apartment was morning, not just Ryan.

The situation in the kitchen just confirmed that. Sharpay was actually dressed in black. Even though she did not wear anywhere near as much pink as she did in her high school days, seeing Sharpay in all black was disconcerting. Olivia was now just picking at the pastry, unwilling to eat. Isaac was the only ones speaking, but his eyes seemed so haunted.

"Mom, I just don't understand why Uncle Ryan is so upset because Uncle Zack died. He hasn't left the room yet. I didn't cry at all when Charles died." Taylor doesn't know how to respond. How can somebody be so hard at 14? Maybe it comes from visiting your biological mother twice a week in a long-term care center. Maybe it comes from the fact that your maternal grandfather was gunned down by your other grandfather's first wife.

"That's because that man was never really your father. He was a sperm donor. He was no different than the person who was gracious enough to give Kim and Troy an egg so she could have Gabi. Charles had no claim on you or your sister. There was nothing more there. Also, it's hard to be upset about a man who died resisting arrest after being on the land for 12 years. I didn't shed a tear when Darby died three years ago. The situation is different with Uncle Zack. He was 35 and died in a plane crash. Nobody saw that coming. We all loved Zack but your Uncle Ryan loved him more. He just needs time to wrap his mind around this." She explained this in a way that Taylor never could. Sharpay was a good mom.

"That's because Darby died of alcohol poisoning." Isaac said with a snort.

"How do you know that?" Chad asked his son.

"Google," Both Olivia and Isaac answer simultaneously.

"Of course," all three adults responded by rolling their eyes.

"It has nothing to do with how she died but rather how Darby lived. She was not a very good person." Sharpay said cryptically trying to protect the twins from the worst of it. Sharpay was a very protective mother but unlike Taylor's parents she never lied to her children. She always told him the truth even if the truth was painful. Taylor respected her for that.

"A lot of that was on Google too." Olivia said. "We are 14 years old and have grown up with the fact that our sperm donor put our biological mother in a coma. We can handle the truth. You have never sugar coated anything before, why start now?"

"You are right." Sharpay said with shaky breath. "Darby was abusive and she hit me a lot, in addition to years of mind games. By the time she died, I can honestly say that I didn't love her anymore because of the way she treated me and everyone else. Zack was a good person. He did charity work. He coached girls' basketball at the local Boys and Girls club. He was perfectly OK being the house husband of a Broadway choreographer. He loved his job. He loved you guys. He was the most wonderful person in the world. Most important of all, he loved your uncle more than anyone else in the universe." Sharpay said halfway on the verge of tears.

"Ryan isn't just morning your uncle," Taylor started, "He's also letting go of all the plans he had. It was like that for Vanessa, my biological mom, when Jay died last year. His massive heart attack was just as sudden as the plane crash. She had these visions of her and Jay growing old together, seeing Kimi off to college and dancing together at Alex's wedding. Vanessa said that it was harder to accept those things never happening than anything else." Taylor said remembering the conversation with her biological mother.

"What about when grandpa Evans died? I really don't remember him at all. Were you upset when he died?" Isaac asked and Sharpay frowned at that. There was an unspoken agreement among the group not to talk about those horrible days in April 2009 when Vince Evans lost his life and Kim lost her ability to walk and her unborn child.

"You were still practically a newborn at the time. At first I just cried. Grandma Caroline was supposed to go to the hospital to get her baby checked out but she needed to find me first. Fortunately, the one who would become your aunt, was fine. Right before he d… Your grandfather made her promise that she would take care of me and Ryan. Her first fulfillment of that promise was to tell me personally." Sharpay was almost shaking at that point.

"It was not just your grandfather's death, we weren't sure if Kim was going to make it at that point. It was a bad time. It took a few days and a lot of support but I came out of it." Sharpay explained not even saying Lucy's name. No one did in their group. Troy went so far as to have Lucy taken off his birth certificate. Legally speaking, Caroline Sanchez-Bolton was now his mother. Kim did something similar when she found out that her biological mother was the one who got Lucy out of jail.

"What about Uncle Ryan?" Olivia asked bringing Taylor back to the conversation at hand.

"I think his initial reaction is pretty similar to now." Taylor added remembering how lost he was.

"After the initial crying, I was numb. I just couldn't believe it. I do not think I believed he was really dead until I saw his body. I threw up twice." Sharpay said trying to keep her emotions at bay. She remembered that. Ryan was shaking the entire time and also spent a lot of time throwing up in the bathroom. She actually had to go into the men's room to check on him. Maybe it was best if this conversation ended as quickly as possible.

"It's a pretty day outside and you guys do live in New York, maybe you should do something. You can go to central park or maybe do some museum hopping." Taylor suggested try to keep Sharpay from going into tears. This type of grief was not good for kids. She remembered Zack making a similar suggestion 14 years ago to keep Ryan from falling apart although that involved ski ball.

"I wouldn't mind going to see the polar bears." Olivia suggested halfheartedly.

"You guys get ready and I will see if I can get your Uncle Ryan to eat something." Taylor said as she filled a plate with fruit, cheeses, and a croissant. She even made Ryan his favorite cup of coffee. The family was already out of the house by the time she actually made it into the guest bedroom.

"I brought cheese and croissants." She called out as she walked into the dark room. There was no light in the room except the glow of his iPod.

"Go away Sharpay." He calls out without even looking at her.

"I know Chad had some confusion with that back during his freshman year of college, but I'm not your sister. Considering we actually had sex many times a long time ago, I think that's a good thing." Taylor said as she continued walking over to him and placed her plate of food on the bed.

"Taylor?" He said her name as a question.

"Of course, it's me. Besides Kelsey, who else could it have been! I don't think you've had sex with that many people." She joked.

"I haven't seen Kelsey in years. It's like that old Gotye song. That is the complete opposite of you and me. I think _My Boo _is more appropriate. Besides, I only count you and…" He starts but it ends in a sob. Taylor's only response is to crawl in the bed beside him and hold him as he cried.

* * *

A**pril 26, 2009**

Its 7:01 AM when Amanda lets Zeke, Penelope, and Zach into the Evans family condo. She's still up at that time because she hasn't slept at all. It was impossible under the circumstances.

"We brought food." Zeke says solemnly not looking at her as he walks to the kitchen table.

"When in doubt bring food." Zach mumbles to Penelope. Under other circumstances she may have found that funny.

"Put it on the table. I doubt that Sharpay will feel like eating any time soon, but the rest of us could use a bagel." She said pointing to Marc, Jimmy, and Kerri who were asleep on various pieces of furniture. Jimmy did not want to leave his ex girlfriend alone and Marc mostly stayed for her. Penelope only left earlier to scare the reporters away from Kim's house.

"How is she doing?" Penelope asked not needing to clarify who 'she' is because they all knew it was Sharpay.

"She is an absolute fucking mess. You saw the initial reaction last night." Amanda said referring to the near fainting, crying, and extreme denial that followed Caroline's arrival. "When she went to the hospital to see Kim she completely lost it. It was just too much for her. They had to sedate her when she found out that not only did Kim lose the baby but they were removing her uterus to stop the hemorrhaging in an effort to save her life. Chad took Sharpay home because he thought a familiar setting would be better for her." Amanda said trying not to cry herself remembering that conversation with one of the doctors. Kim is a really good friend of hers and things right now are just so uncertain.

"How is Kim doing?" Zeke asked.

"Stable but still in critical condition, she's out of surgery, according to Jack. He called about an hour ago. He spent the night at the hospital. When Kim wakes up she will have a new little sister waiting for her." Amanda said with half a smile, the safe birth of Kimi Kim was the only good thing that has happened in the last 24 hours. (Seriously Mr. Kim chooses the strangest names for his children but at least in this case the new baby was named in honor of her sister.)

"What are you talking about?" Penelope asked.

"The shock of what happened to her stepdaughter sent Vanessa into premature labor. Kimi Kim was born at 5:22 this morning." Amanda explained remembering Mrs. Kim's water breaking in the waiting room when the cops tried to explain to her what happen.

"Oh god. She's early right? Kim wasn't planning to have the baby shower until after finals. Kim asked me to make the cake." Zeke asked as he started to ramble.

"A few weeks, but the baby is fine." Amanda said with a reassuring smile that wasn't completely fake. "The newborn is a good distraction for Mr. Kim."

"How is everyone else?" Penelope asked as she took a seat at the table.

"In various stages of the seven stages of grief. Most seem to be stuck on guilt, but that's an improvement from the denial of yesterday." She said thinking of Mr. Bolton and Sharpay. "Jack is at the hospital with Taylor's father keeping an eye on him. Caroline cried herself to sleep about 2 hours ago in the master bedroom with Sharpay sleeping on her lap. She also feels guilty because Mr. Evans died saving her or at least that's how she sees it." Amanda said before being interrupted.

"How the fuck did Lucy get out of jail?" Someone asked.

"I don't know. She's back in jail now. Does it matter?"

"No"

Even though she is completely drugged, Sharpay will not let go of Caroline. She is the closest thing to a parent Sharpay has left. She's terrified of losing someone else." Amanda said with shaky breath.

"I thought that Darby was still alive?" Zeke probably only asked that because he was not here when everything fell apart last fall.

"Yes, but she is persona non grata in Sharpay's Life. You missed a lot last semester. Let's just say, the bitch might as well be dead for what she put Sharpay through." Amanda could not keep the bitterness out of her voice as she explained. "Chad has been trying to keep everything together for Sharpay's sake but I know this is affecting him to."

"What about Ryan?" Penelope asked.

"According to Taylor not well at all. He found out from CNN."

"Fuck." All three said at the same time. That was her reaction when Taylor told her.

"Taylor called a few minutes ago to let me know that they would be boarding their flight any moment. She says he is practically non responsive."

"I already knew he was on his way but I didn't think it was that bad. Ryan sent me a text message asking me if I would pick him and Taylor up from the Airport when their flight gets in." Zack told her. This surprised Amanda.

"Ryan sent you a text message? I didn't know you two were that acquainted beyond causing complete chaos at the rehearsal dinner. Actually, I'm surprise that he was in a state to send a text message. Taylor said that she practically had to dress him." Amanda said sadly. Finding out your dad died from CNN would probably do that to anyone.

"We have been exchanging text messages and emails for the last month. I sent a message about the play last night before everything went to hell. He replied this morning asking me to get him from the Airport. That's the entire message said." He said with concern in his voice.

"I'm just glad he sent you anything. I take that as a positive sign. Troy is also a complete mess. He feels guilty because his mother was the one responsible according to the phone call I got from Gabriella before they left for the Airport this morning. Gabriella and Troy should be getting here soon. I need to pick them up but I don't want to leave Chad here alone with three children to take care of on top of everything else. You don't want to know how hard it was to get Alex to sleep last night. He kept asking for Kim." Amanda explained on the verge of tears again.

"What about me?" A half asleep Marc called from one of the couches.

"You can help with everything else but you're not a child anymore. You told me on more than one occasion that the best thing about being gay is you never have to worry about having children accidentally." Amanda said with a snort.

"Let's be honest your strength lies in planning things not changing diapers. Have you ever planned a funeral before? I have no idea where to start." Chad said as he walked into the room holding a sleeping Alex. "Poor child" Penelope mumbled under breath.

"No, but it can't be any harder than trying to plan a wedding in about 12 days. Classes are canceled until Wednesday because of what happened. We have time. Although if he wanted a traditional Jewish burial that may be a bit harder to pull off." Marc said apparently being aware of the 24 hour burial thing.

"I have no idea. This is not exactly the type of thing we talk about at Saturday lunches. He was not even 50 yet." Chad said in a daze as he kept rocking the toddler. As long as Alex stayed asleep he won't ask where his mom is. She has no idea what to say to the child. However, she does know where to start with funeral arrangements.

"Mr. Evans' assistant emailed me a file that contains his wishes for his funeral. He was never that religious so you don't have to worry about a burial time limit." Amanda said as she took her corporate blackberry out of her pocket to access her Evans international e-mail account.

"He was always one step ahead." Chad said with a small smile.

"That's one less thing to worry about. Can you send me a copy of that?" Marc asked her.

"Already done, I really need to leave to get Troy now." Amanda said looking at the clock on her blackberry.

"I can do that." Zeke offered. "I can even bring baby Bolton with me." Zeke said as he reached for Alex not realizing that his words made Amanda feel like crying. The new baby Bolton was gone.

"No, I will go. Though, I probably should take Alex with me. I'm sure he wants to see daddy." Amanda said fighting back tears.

"Amanda you're exhausted. Did you sleep at all last night?" Chad asked her.

"I'm fine." Amanda said grabbing her purse.

"Friends don't let friends drive sleep deprived." Chad said taking her car keys from the table and giving them to Zeke.

"Fine." Amanda said as she ran out of the apartment. She was almost to the car When Zeke caught up with her.

"Look, I know you're not fine. You were on the verge of crying back there. Please stop pretending otherwise." Zeke's words were a little too close to the truth for her comfort.

"I can't cry. I didn't just lose my father. I don't have a right to." She said opening the door to the car so she could gently place the sleeping toddler in his car seat.

It was there from last night when she drove all the babies' home from the sitter. She was the only one coherent enough last night to get the kids. She was the one who call Taylor and made arrangements for her to get Ryan. She's the one who arranged for their flight to New Mexico. She is the one who called Jackie to get Kelsey's number because she knew Ryan can't be alone for that long. Thankfully, Jackie called the stranger for her not that it did any good apparently. She was the one who arranged a flight for Troy and Gabriella. She was the one who threw away Caroline's bloody suit even though Amanda threw up afterwards. She was the one who held Kerri as she cried herself to sleep. Not only did Mr. Evans offer her a scholarship to a private school of her choice so she wouldn't have to put up with another year at East High, he also pay for her to see a psychologist that specializes in sexual assault before they were even related in a roundabout way through the twins.

"Yes but you did lose the guy who gave you a job that doesn't involve French fries and is paying for your college education." He said putting an arm on her shoulder. Amanda just stepped away as she got in the passenger seat of the car.

"You forgot about the fact that one of my good friends is currently fighting for her life." Amanda quipped as she buckled her seatbelt.

"See there is another reason why you should cry." Zeke said as he got in the driver seat.

"I can't. Somebody has to be the strong one. Chad is trying but this is hard on him. The woman who used to make him cookies after basketball games tried to kill his mother and the fiancée of his best friend who happens to be one of his good friends. She succeeded in killing his father in law. He's strong, but nobody is that strong." She said that last part softly.

"You're right, nobody can be that strong including you. If you need to cry, you can cry with me. I will not tell anybody." He said pulling Amanda to him. She finally allowed him to.

"What will I do if she doesn't make it?" She asked him in tears.

"I'm not sure yet, but I promise to make you cookies when this is all over with."

"With chunks of good chocolate in it?"

"If that's what you want." She actually smiles through her tears at that.

* * *

**April 08, 2023**

Zeke waits impatiently in the parking lot of the Albuquerque Airport for Taylor and Ryan to arrive. His fiancée offered to have a car service do it but despite his busy schedule he wanted to see Ryan himself. He knows Ryan needed as much support as he can get. Losing the person that you thought you would spend the rest of your life with is never easy whether it be by divorce or plane crash. Zeke knows by personal experience that it is the worst feeling in the world to realize that forever was anything but. His response was to sell off all his restaurants in Chicago and moved back to New Mexico within the first 48 hours. According to Sharpay and Taylor, Ryan was still too numb to have a real response yet. He guesses that's the difference between death and divorce, the numbness did not set in until the divorce papers actually arrived.

If it wasn't for Penelope convincing Amanda to show up to his new apartment with commercial pizza and cheap alcohol two years ago he probably would have stayed curled up under the covers even though he had a daughter to take care of. (Said evil ex wife wanted nothing to do with their little Ivy.)

He owes Ryan for forgiving him for what he did to Sharpay years ago, that's why he's here. Thanks to his ex wife he now knows how much damage he really did. They say what goes around comes around and he definitely did get his.

He owes Penelope for many different things. He's not sure how it happened but Penelope, his high school girlfriend that he stabbed in the back because he was such a complete cowered, is his best friend. She was there for him for the divorce and the transition to single parenthood. He would do anything for her and right now she was slowly coming undone. She's known Zack for forever. The thought of him being dead was slowly killing her inside. She wasn't quite ready to see Ryan without Zack. That would make his death real and Zeke doesn't think Penelope can handle that in the waiting area of the Albuquerque Airport. When she asked him to do this, he could not say no.

Besides taking the afternoon off meant that he gets to spend more time with Ivy. With the wedding coming up in less than two months, he wanted to make every opportunity to spend time with his little girl. Ivy loved Amanda, but he knew it was important to make sure that his little girl knew how important he was to her. Besides Ivy loved Ryan because every time he was around he would teach her a new dance. It makes perfect sense to him. He loved to bake and his daughter loved to dance. It was just one of those things. Unlike with him, he would encourage his daughter to do whatever she loved.

When he sees Ryan walk to the car with Taylor clutching his hand Zeke sees a haunted expression that he only saw one time before. It was in this very waiting area nearly 14 years ago that he saw broken Troy being led to the car by Gabriella. It was like Troy was not even there, but just going through the motions. Who could blame him, a woman who was his wife in heart, if not law was in a medically induced coma caused by his mother shooting her in the uterus. The actions of his mother also caused the miscarriage of his second child. Zeke knows what that feels like now after dealing with one miscarriage himself. But at least it really was a miscarriage not something like murder. Now Ryan has that look and it makes Zeke sick to see him like this.

He knows better than to ask Ryan if he is OK. He learned that from Troy. His only response was a quick no and asked if Zeke had any cookies with him. This time Zeke knows it's best not to say a word. Instead, he just hugs Ryan and gives him a bag of his favorite cookies. That seems to be what Ryan needed. For years, Marc has been telling Zeke that he needs to put out a line of condolence cookies. Considering Ryan's reaction, he might consider it.

Ryan sits in the backseat next to Ivy as he begins to eat one of the cookies. He stays back to help Taylor with the luggage.

"Thank you for bringing cookies. I think that is the first thing he even since yesterday and he threw that up anyway after he saw Zack's body. I had to give him a lot of drugs to even get him on the plane. He's terrified of them now. Thankfully he has a brother in law with an M.D. They're going to get here tomorrow because Ryan would not allow them to take the same flight here." Taylor said with a sad smile.

"I can understand all things considered. Why did he even go to see the body? We all know how badly that went last time." He wasn't there when Ryan and Sharpay went to claim their father's body. However, Amanda and Taylor were there along with Chad and they all refuse to really give details. Although he did know that Sharpay squeezed Amanda's hand so much that it was covered in bruises. (This was slightly better than three months later when Nikki's father died of lung cancer. She managed to break both Marc and Amanda's hands because she squeezed so tight. The future wedding dress designer was stronger than she looked.)

"The same reason that he went to the morgue last time. He felt like he had to. Actually, I think it's worse this time. He was so young. 35 year olds shouldn't die." Taylor said with unshared tears as she placed another suitcase in the trunk.

"I understand as much as someone can who has never gone through anything like this. Although if Ryan is having such a hard time flying, why did he decide to bury Zack in Albuquerque? Why not have him brought back to New York." That question has been on his mind ever since Penelope told him that she would be working to put the funeral together. Kerri surprisingly enough was Marc's business partner after an injury put her professional basketball dream on ice permanently along with their third partner Nikki who also had her own wedding dress business. Kerri usually ran the Albuquerque branch office of Marc's party planning empire even if she did spend a lot of time in DC during basketball season. (No one in this group questions the relationship between Marc's business partner and his husband, not even his fiancée Amanda.) Now that Marc was essentially taking a leave of absence to run Taylor's senatorial campaign, Kerri was in charge of everything.

"Because this is home." Ryan said that as he opened the door. "Do you realize that I can hear everything? This Car is not soundproof. You could just ask me how I'm doing." Ryan said in a way that told him this guy was definitely related to Sharpay Evans.

"I was going to go with absolute s—." He started before remembering that there was a four year old in the backseat .

"That's about right. The cookies are good." Ryan said as he began to consume a second one.

"I thought you could use something sweet. We can try to get you something more substantial when we get to Kim's house. I made some soup." They were planning on an informal wake of sorts there because the house was humongous. Actually, the word House was an understatement. The Bolton mansion was three times bigger than the old Evans mansion with built in wheelchair ramps and elevators everywhere. It was Kim's paradise. She even had the kitchen designs so she could cook from her wheelchair but it was still every chef's wet dream with professional cookware and stainless steel appliances. He was going to be having fun in that kitchen this afternoon.

"That's okay, maybe later." Ryan responded not looking at any one. That was the last thing anybody said until 10 minutes later when his young child started pleading with her favorite pseudo uncle to teach her a new dance.

"I'm not up to it right now baby. Maybe in a few days." Ryan says as an excuse. No one buys it especially, not Ivy.

"Are you sad because Uncle Zack is not here?" The question alone made Zeke go through a red light. He swears she gets the lack of tack from her egg donor. Unfortunately, she gets her perceptiveness from her as well. That is a bad combination in a four year old.

"Yes. That is why I don't feel like eating anything or teaching you a new dance."

"Will you feel better when uncle Zack gets here?" His four year old asked causing Taylor to mumble various curse words under breath. Last night he and Amanda sat Ivy down to explain what happened. This was the first time somebody that she knew died that she was actually old enough to understand. Thankfully, when Mr. Kim died she was too little to ask questions. He remembered watching Kim and Troy tactfully explain everything to their then five year old daughter Gabi (who looks a lot like Gabriella, not that he's going to say anything because he knows that they used donor eggs, in addition to the gestational carrier). He thought he and Amanda followed their example, apparently not.

"Uncle Zack is not coming. We told you last night that he died in an accident." He could see Ryan wince in the backseat as the bag of cookies fell down to the floor. Zeke doubted he would eat another one any time soon. Maybe Ivy did get her lack of tack from him after all.

"I know, but I don't understand death." The little girl explained.

"I don't either." Ryan mumbled under breath.

"Does that mean he's not coming back like mommy?" Ivy asked in a way that broke his heart. He felt it was best that he pull the car over before he answers. Maybe that would give him time to come up with an answer better than 'your mom is a heartless gold digging bitch and that's why she's not coming back."

"Not exactly, unlike your mommy, he did not choose to leave. He's also not coming back." Taylor explained for him.

"Okay, but mommy said she wasn't coming back either." The four year old said as she grabbed Mr. Fluffy. Penelope gave her that silly Build-a-Bear after the divorce. For the first three months, she could not sleep without him.

"You can have Mr. Fluffy." She said giving the bear to Ryan. "He made me less sad when mommy went away but I don't need him anymore because I have mommy Amanda now. Maybe he will make you less sad." He almost cried at that. Taylor actually was crying but she would not all in one example of his these and you will let anybody see.

"Maybe," was all Ryan said as he grabbed the stuffed teddy bear from her! It must have did some good because he consumed an entire bowl of soup when they arrived to Kim's house. He even survives all the hugs and well wishes from his friends. Of course, Ivy and Taylor are the only ones he allows to get really close. Maybe there was something special about Mr. Fluffy after all.

* * *

April 26, 2009 through April 30, 2009

Sharpay does not understand death. She doesn't understand why her father left her all alone in the world. She feels like an orphan. She doesn't believe Caroline at first but the blood on her suit doesn't lie. She shuts down by the time they arrive at the hospital. Only the conversation with Kim's medical team breaks her out of it. That's when she falls apart again. She's not sure what pill the doctors give her but at least she can breathe again. She doesn't think that she has breathed at all since Caroline told her.

She wakes up the morning after wishing it was all a dream. Of course the fact that Caroline is lying beneath her tells her it's not. She remembers not allowing the closest thing she has left to a parent leave the room. She does not get up from the bed until she hears Olivia crying. Her daughter and son are the only reason why she doesn't want to join her father. She has to stay around for her children and Chad if nothing else. Of course, Ryan too. At that moment she realizes she has many reasons to stay and few to go.

She stops outside the door to see Chad in there with Penelope as she helps him change the dirty diapers.

"How are you doing, really?" Penelope asked with genuine concern.

"You know you're the first person to ask me that question. So far everyone has asked me about Sharpay, my mom, or Kim." Chad said almost sarcastically.

"Yes but you were affected by this too. He was your father in law." Penelope explains.

"He was a good man, sometimes." Chad said with a sad smile that broke Sharpay's heart even more than before if it is possible to break something that's already shattered in a million pieces. "He may have screwed up a lot but he loved Ryan and Sharpay unconditionally. That is more than I could ever say for Charles. He died so my mother could live." Sharpay knew her husband was crying at that point.

"You don't know that. Everyone says that Mrs. Bolton has become unbalanced. Who knows what she was planning." Penelope said as she passed him a clean diaper.

"She has always been unbalanced. The sweet lady who made me cookies after school was never real. In hindsight, I can only pick up on all the snide comments she made about my mom and Jack, especially after my mom's divorce. There was always this jealousy there. She was going to kill my mom. I have no doubt about that. Even Vince knew that." His words were bitter and broken.

"How can you know that?" Penelope asked him to explain.

"By his last words to my mom, he made her promise to watch over Sharpay and Ryan as if they were hers. He said that he knew his time was coming soon and at least this way he knew that his children would be okay." Chad's words were broken with tiny sobs that he was trying to push away. What did that mean? Sharpay thought to herself as she felt weak again. She ran to the bathroom in an effort to make it look like she wasn't crying.

Once she felt strong enough to leave, she was hugged by Jimmy, Kerri, and Marc. They all had the decency not to ask her if she's OK because they already know she's not. Kerri forces her to eat a scone, she gets half way through before she becomes sick again because Marc asked her for input on her father's funeral. She doesn't want to think about caskets and funeral homes right now. That would make this all too real. She leaves the kitchen, making some excuse about needing to feed the babies. Penelope leaves but not before offering her services to help take care of the twins and Alex. She also offers to get everyone else out of her condo. Sharpay just smiles in thanks. That was the first time Sharpay has smiled in the last 12 hours.

Fuck, it's only been 12 hours. How can her entire world be different in just 12 hours?

She grabbed Olivia and sits down in the rocking chair. Chad takes the chair beside her. She says nothing until Olivia drinks half of her bottle.

"I don't want to plan my father's funeral." She said in a monotone voice.

"You don't have too. That's what we're paying Marc to do." On any other day, about anything else that would be a joke. Not today.

"He just asked for my input. I want nothing to do with it. Just tell me where to show up. Maybe in a few days I will be far enough along that I can take being at my father's funeral but I am not ready to pick out caskets or arrange for a funeral plot." Sharpay explained as she allowed a tear to fall down her cheek.

"Okay." Chad says squeezing her hand. "The only thing you have to do is show up and look absolutely beautiful."

"No one looks good at a funeral." She said with a sniffle.

"You always look good." Chad says with a smile as he reaches over to kiss her on the cheek. The touch of his lips is the only thing that feels real at the moment.

"Just tell me everything is going to be okay. Even if it's a lie, just tell me everything is going to be okay." Sharpay pleaded with her husband as more tears began to fall.

"Everything will be okay, someday." Chad tells her and just because it is him, she believes every word.

She stays in the nursery with Chad for what seems like forever until Troy stops by. He wants to offer his condolences before he saw his girlfriend. Maybe he just needed his friends with him before he saw Kim. She would not fault him for that. She fell apart herself seeing Kim covered in bruises. It seems so much worse than with Tiffany.

Troy apologizes to Sharpay even if she finds it's silly. He blames himself for her father's death, for Kim being in ICU, and everything else. She tells him that it's not his fault, he doesn't believe her. That is okay because Sharpay doesn't believe Chad when he tells her that this isn't her fault either. A part of her blames herself. If she didn't force her father to come to her production, he wouldn't have been there when Lucy shot up the place.

Caroline drives her and Troy to the hospital because neither her nor Troy are ready to be behind the wheel of a car right now. Gabriella stays behind to watch the children until Mrs. Zara arrives to take over and to actually make Amanda and Chad get some sleep. Both have been up all night dealing with everything she couldn't. She's actually glad that Gabriella is there for once but don't tell anybody that.

They find Mr. Bolton sitting by Kim's bedside. Apparently, she was well enough now to have visitors in her room for more than 5 minutes at a time. Sharpay can only see this as a good sign. There's a lot of crying as father and son talk. Mr. Bolton also blames himself for what happened. Sharpay only blames him for marrying a complete lunatic. But if he never fell for Lucy than Troy would not be here and that would just be horrible. So therefore, she can forgive him for that because a world without Troy Bolton is a world she does not want to live in. After an hour, Caroline was finally able to drag her fiancé away most likely to make him eat something and possibly go home to change clothing.

The next moment she really remembers was something out of a fairy tale. The moment that Troy kisses Kim on the forehead her eyes open. That was probably the happiest Sharpay felt since this nightmare began, even if the doctors promptly kicked both out of the room.

When she watched Troy tell Kim everything that happened it felt surreal. She let the couple be alone to mourn their child even though Kim can barely say a word, but she can cry. It was just too private of a moment for Sharpay to keep watching. Being the best friend that she is Kim called her back in to give her condolences even if it is nothing more than squeezing her hand. It was one of the few moments where she didn't feel completely numb. She stayed there until Gabriella arrived to force Troy to eat lunch or maybe its dinner at that point. Time has lost all meaning except for the fact that she found out her father died 18 hours and 43 minutes ago.

Chad was there to make her eat something too. He only succeeds because they end up having sex in the bathroom of the restaurant. It was rough, against a wall and left her with bruises but she didn't care. When he is in here she can pretend that everything is the way it should be. When she comes back down from her orgasm high everything was in shambles again.

She does not remember too much of the evening besides changing diapers and trying to color with Alex. She wonders what her therapist would think of her drawing a picture of her father the way she last saw him. Her mourning music was on in the background including Yesterday, _Crossroads_, _When I'm Gone_, _Emotions_, _You Are Not Alone_, and _Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely_.

Ryan arrives sometime around when Chad forces her to eat a bowl of Zeke's tomato basil soup. The Sharpay mass goes on because she realizes her brother's more of a mess than she is. At least she found out from Caroline not CNN. Fuck Kelsey, for not trying harder. At least she had Chad to get her through this. Ryan had her, apparently Taylor, and his new friend Zack who volunteer to pick him up from the Airport. Sharpay would ask about that under any other circumstances. Nosy sister would have to take a backseat to concerns sister.

He cries a lot. She can never remember Ryan crying but he does. The only thing she can get him to eat are some of Zeke's cookies. That's okay because if it wasn't for Chad that would be all she would eat. (He keeps bribing her with sexual favors to eat more.) They stay up talking about silly things like their father sneaking the three into the kitchens at Lava Springs after hours for ice cream when they were eight years old. Those were the memories that they were trying to hold onto not the blood on Caroline's suit or the graphic details of their fathers' final moments being aired on CNN repeatedly. She cannot even turn on the TV right now.

She shares the bed with Ryan because she doesn't want to be away from him. He is her twin. They share a special bond. They need to mourn together. Ryan is in worse shape than she is and that is saying something because she is a complete wreck. She has a husband and children to help her through this. What does Ryan have beyond her?

The next morning her father's body is released from the coroner's office. Cause of death was listed as cardiac arrest caused by tackling she who will not be named to the ground. That surprises her until her conversation with Caroline when she finds out how sick her father really has been for the last three years. No wonder he was so OK with her marrying Chad at 19, he knew he wouldn't be around to see it if it happened any later. She's furious at him for keeping this secret from her but he's no longer here to hear her angry rant.

Ryan and she make the silly decision to go see their father's body. It was a mistake. She wasn't ready. Ryan sure as hell wasn't ready. Is anybody ever ready to see their father like that? Ryan locked himself in the bathroom at the morgue. Taylor had to call in reinforcements to get him out in the form of Gabriella and Zack. (Again, under any other circumstances she would ask why Taylor begrudgingly called Zack but she was too out of it to care.)

Sharpay threw up a lot. Chad and Amanda's hands were both covered in bruises because she squeezed so hard. Then she broke a mirror in the bathroom.

Gabriella and Zack have decided that the best way to distract Ryan is to take him out for games, pizza, and karaoke. She personally thinks this is Gabriella's planned to also get Troy out of Kim's hospital room. She finds out from Amanda the things fall apart when somebody does the song _Gone_.

Her genius husband arranged for a therapy session. She manages to break a table and tear apart a pillow during the session but she feels better afterwards. In that room was the only time it was okay for her to show her anger for Lucy and for her father. She was angry with Lucy for trying to kill Kim and Caroline. She was furious at her father for not telling her how sick you really was. If she knew, at lease you would have had a chance to say goodbye. If Lucy didn't do what she did at least they would have had a few more months. That revelation just made Sharpay angry all over again. She can't do that anywhere else because she didn't want to fueled the guild of Caroline, Troy, Mr. Bolton, and even Kim. It wasn't their fault (although she was a teeny bit angry at her mother in law for going along with her father's lie once she was brought into his confidence.)

Chad arranges for his mom to take the kids for the night. There was lots of sex and crying. It was the angry type with Sharpay on top and the headboard being broken in two. There was also throwing things and screaming. She was starting to feel something again. It was a start.

Tuesday morning she woke up at 6:00 AM, got dressed in her teacher clothing, fed the babies, and got Kerri ready for school. She let her charge stay home yesterday but she doubted Ms. Jackson will let Kerri continued to live with her and Chad if she starts skipping school.

She wasn't sure why she went to east high that morning. Maybe it was so she didn't have to be around as Chad, Caroline, and Marc plan her father's funeral and wake for Wednesday and Thursday. Jack was not expecting her to come back. Actually, he wasn't coming back, ever. Apparently Principle dick didn't see having your future daughter in law in ICU as a legitimate reason to miss classes despite the fact that he has 110 personal days saved up. She gets to see Jack tell his boss to go fuck himself and quits his job when he and Caroline picked up the babies yesterday. It was one of the few things that made her happy. Maybe Sharpay just craved the monotony of normalcy. Going to East High was as normal as it was going to get.

She was accosted by reporters as she left her house. Apparently a university official gave her address to the press (most likely directed by Richard's uncle in retaliation for being responsible for his nephew finally getting what he deserves). Thanks to Lucy the story got buried in the middle of the paper.

She asked the vultures to give her time to grieve for her father in peace and their response was to take more pictures of her. Thankfully, they could not follow her onto the private East High campus. Apparently, Jimmy warned his fellow classmates to not asked stupid questions. Even Tiara or whatever was nice to her. That alone was disconcerting.

The substitute teacher was just happy that somebody was there who knew the lesson plan. As long as she was teaching she didn't have to think about her father's funeral.

That reprieve did not last very long because her next step was to pick up funeral wear for the twins. Aunt Claudia offered to watch the twins during the proceedings because she believed funerals were no place for small children but she felt like she would fall apart if she didn't have the twins with her. Besides the twins' biological mother was in a coma and their biological father was a wanted fugitive. What was the point of sheltering the children from the cruelty of reality? Life was pure misery with little sparks of happiness interspersed so that the misery doesn't completely overwhelm you.

She spent the afternoon with Kim and Troy. Kim is better, if still in pain. Not that she can feel anything below the waist. Personally, Sharpay is just happy she's not dead. She arrives just in time for Vanessa and Taylor to bring down baby Kimi Kim (poor child) to meet her big sister.

While visiting her best friend she received several phone calls from the lawyers. She didn't return any of them. Whatever they had to say could wait until she put her father in the ground.

The next day she woke up and went through the motions again. Her time at East High was a little easier. The students were much more focused on the fact that Coach Bolton quit his job than her father's death because Coach Bolton's former wife is crazy. It made things a little easier.

Classes at A of U were harder. It took Sharpay an extra 15 minutes to get to one class because she refused to walk anywhere near where her father were shot. Everybody just looked at her with sad expressions. Most offered her condolences that made her uncomfortable. A few of Richard's friends called her various synonyms for prostitute. This made her smile because it meant that everything was going to be okay.

Most of her teachers were surprised she showed up for classes except for her writing teacher. He lost his mother two years ago to breast cancer and understood her need to maintain some normalcy. She survived the first 20 minutes of class until they broke into groups for some project. When she relies that Kim wasn't there for her to work with she broke down in sobs. She's not sure how Chad knows to come and take her home. He forces her to take a bath with all the girlie stuff she likes. She wishes she had time to take a nap but she had a wake to go to.

The entire thing was unnerving. Thankfully Caroline knew enough people in high places to keep the vultures away from the viewing, at least the ones in the press. Opportunistic family and father's fake friends were another thing altogether. Their fake smiles and tears made her sick. If she was going to survive she did not dare a look at her father's casket. Ryan did and it led to him having a heart to heart with his new 'friend' in the men's room. Although that's probably better than what she did with her husband in a supply closet.

The funeral was depressing and complicated. It was just for family and real friends. Sharpay was glad that Marc thought about that so she didn't have to deal with the phoniness of the night before. Though Darby did try to crash and was promptly punched out by a very angry Caroline. The cop on duty who happened to be her brother didn't see anything. She and Ryan drew straws to see who would do the eulogy and Sharpay won or lost depending on how you look at it. It took all her acting skills not to throw up on the way to the podium.

"My father wasn't perfect. He missed more birthday parties than Ryan or I Care to remember and we are not even going to talk about Christmas. But he was always there when we needed him the most whether it be a bad break up or the quick adoption of two children because your friend is in a coma. Ryan and I know that he loved us unconditionally. I only hope that I can follow that example with my own children. We love you daddy." She said with tears falling down her cheeks.

That was as much as she could take. Sharpay had to get the hell out of there.

She found herself walking to nearby AMC and Kim's hospital room after she sent a quick text message to her husband letting him know where she was. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had the Idea because Gabriella was sitting next to Kim and the two were engaging in a very loud argument. Apparently she and Taylor traded off who would take care of Ryan and Kim during the funeral and wake.

"Troy loves you unconditionally. He doesn't care that you're never going to be able to have another child. He doesn't care if you're going to be able to walk again." Apparently Kim was given that bad news earlier. Sharpay was already too exhausted to really react to that. "He has been by your side every moment." Gabriella yelled. Sharpay has never seen her that angry before.

"Maybe he just feels guilty." Kim said in a soft voice.

"That is complete bull shit." Gabriella yelled. "Is that the same reasoning you used when you justified running away to New York and hiding Troy son from him for two years!"

"I did not hide anyone." Kim argued back. The fact that she was arguing made Sharpay feel better, that meant Kim was coming back to her.

"Yes you did. You did not even tell me that Alex was Troy's child. If I knew I would have driven Troy to New York myself." Sharpay said as she walked into the room.

"Good thing you're here even if you're supposed to be burying your father. Maybe you can talk some sense into your friend. She wants to break up with Troy. I'm going to go get some French fries and when I get back I expect you to be thinking like a rational person." Gabriella said leaving the room as quickly as possible.

"You want to break up with Troy. Why?" Sharpay asked completely confused.

"Why are you here?" Kim asked with concern.

"It got overwhelming and I needed some best friend time before I put my father in the ground. Now why do you want to break up with Troy? Sharpay asked with hands on hips.

"Because he shouldn't have to spend the rest of his life with a crippled woman without a uterus. He has so much potential. I will just drag him down." Kim explained with self pity.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Gabriella. That is bullshit. Troy loves you." Sharpay explained.

"I love him too. That's why I need to set him free." Sharpay cannot believe she is hearing this.

"I seriously wish I had Amanda with me. I'm bringing her tomorrow for your newly disabled persons orientation and pep talk. Amanda cannot even communicate in writing or read a newspaper without software, but she's still attending school on scholarship. Hell, her IQ is as high as Chad's. She's brilliant at everything she does. It's just a disability, it doesn't change who she is. It will not change who you are." Sharpay said trying to encourage her.

"It's hard for me to believe that right now." Kim said softly.

"Okay, let's think about it this way, Lucy shot you because she wants to break you and Troy up by whatever means necessary even if it meant your death. If you break up with Troy, Lucy wins. That mother fucking bitch took my father and my future niece or nephew, I am sure as hell not going to let her take away your happiness. Fuck her. Live your life. Don't let her take it away from you." At that moment Sharpay realizes that was exactly what she needed to do herself. She couldn't just go through the motions she had to live her life. Otherwise, Lucy would win. Sharpay hated to let anybody else win.

* * *

**April 10, 2023**

The cemetery at Albuquerque Gardens was just as gloomy as it was nearly 14 years ago when she buried her father here after Gabriella told everyone that she was hiding in Kim's Hospital room. Zack was being buried in the Evans family plot next to her father. Kerri did a good job of arranging everything with a little guidance from Marc. (He was too busy rearranging Taylor schedule, so she could be off for the funeral to be there for Ryan, to do everything like he normally did.) Kerri was family, so of course she would do a good job even if Ryan was to out of it to help decide anything except that his husband would be buried in Albuquerque. The girl Sharpay took care of for her last year of high school was good at keeping things together when they were falling apart. That's how she fell into Marc's party planning empire.

Just like at her father's burial 14 years ago it was raining, It seemed appropriate. Unlike at her father's funeral she actually made it through her brother in laws eulogy without running away after. Even at her favorite teacher's funeral Chad had to drag her back from the car. Unfortunately Penelope didn't fare so well this time and now her favorite event planner was freaking out because she can't find the decease's childhood friend who was supposed to say a few words at the burial. It wasn't like Zack's family was actually going to show up, they were as homophobic as great Aunt Clara (RIP). Ryan was such a mess that left Penelope to do this who was nowhere to be found. The missing person was enough to made Kerri throw up in a hedge.

"Okay the fact that you are sick is not a good sign. I will find Penelope so that you're perfect funeral is not ruined." Sharpay offered.

"The throwing up is normal for me these days. I'll be fine after I use my mouthwash." She said taking the bottle out of her purse.

"Throwing up every 20 seconds is only normal if you're pregnant." The dear in headlights expression from Kerri told her everything she needed to know.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you because…" Kerri started but had no idea how to finish.

"I'm not pregnant and never going to get pregnant." Sharpay supplied for her.

"Pretty much, I'm also not three months yet and you know how these things are." Kerri said with worry.

"I'm sure you'll have better luck than me or Kim. Think positive. I assume this was an accident since you don't have a boyfriend. Please tell me it wasn't some random guy you hooked up with at a bar one night. Chad is going to kill you for not practicing safe sex." Sharpay said picturing the worst case scenario in her head.

"As far as the press is concerned, this is a very planned pregnancy and I am Jimmy and Marc's gestational carrier." Kerri said nervously. Why did Sharpay have a feeling that in Vitro fertilization was not involved? Kerri and Jimmy have always had a interesting relationship. Sharpay has stopped asking questions about it when she walked in on Kerri losing her virginity to her ex boyfriend who had permission from his boyfriend to do so. She leaves those bizarre conversations to her husband who has seen and heard much worse. That right there was the real reason she was shocked that Kerri and Marc not only shared a business but are the best of friends.

"I assume that is a slight fabrication." Sharpay says slowly.

"Jimmy is the biological father. We just decided to do this the old school Babylonian way because I hate needles." Kerri said with a nervous laugh. She would ask Chad about that reference later. He knew more about ancient sexual culture then the encyclopedia.

"I don't want details. Just remember I love you anyway and everything will be okay." Sharpay says hugging her. "It's best that I don't know the exact details, that way I have plausible deniability when I am accosted by TMZ. You can tell Chad later because he's covered by doctor/Patient confidentiality."

"He's a sex therapist, a celebrity bisexual polygamous and siblings spouses is probably almost normal in his business." Kerri says with a laugh. That was definitely TMI.

"I'm going to go find Penelope before the burial." Sharpay said trying to get away as quickly as possible. She thinks of Kerri as a cross between a sibling and her own child. She does not want to know about the sex life of either. It's even more uncomfortable that Kerri is pregnant even though it was completely unplanned, despite what she said. Sharpay wanted to have a child with Chad so badly that it hurt. This wasn't there

She wasn't actually trying to fine Penelope when she wandered into the cemetery restroom but she found her there anyway. She was actually there to just scream in peace.

"Crying is usually the more appropriate response at this sort of thing." Penelope said walking out of the stall.

"I did that earlier." Sharpay joked but it fell flat. "The crazy and pregnant funeral planner is looking for you. You're needed for the next part of the ceremony. She would be in here but she's busy throwing up in the daffodils due to the next NBA or WNBA player in her stomach." Sharpay said sarcastically.

"So you know that she's pregnant." Penelope said with a sigh.

"Did everyone know that but me?" Sharpay asked in annoyance.

"She threw up on my shoes when we were picking out caskets." Penelope quipped. "She wanted to keep it quiet until you were in a better place."

"After the funeral or until I got over the fact that I will never get pregnant?" Sharpay asked.

"I'm not sure. You know how much Kerri loves you. You are her world. I thought you and Chad were still trying, anyway?" Penelope asked.

"I got the news that pregnancy would be impossible about 2 hours before you called me and everything fell apart. Ryan was consoling me and my broken ovaries at the nearest Starbucks when everything went to hell."

"I'm sorry. I would give you my ovaries if I could. We all know I'm not using them. I owe you for Richard spending the last 14 years in jail before Karma got him for both of us." Penelope told her.

"You don't owe me anything. I did what I should have done a long time ago. I have two wonderful children already. I just need to let go of broken dreams. I have other options if I'm really desperate. Gabriella is giving eggs out left and right. She would be of great egg donor if I needed one." She said in a joking matter to break the tension. Sharpay was the only one besides Chad that knew officially Gabriella was the egg donor for Troy and Kim's youngest daughter.

"Because everybody wants superstar singer and actress Gabriella as their babies mama instead of a no-name schoolteacher from New Mexico. Seriously, everybody and TMZ knows that Gabriella is the biological mother of Troy's daughter." Gabriella Montez actually ended up being the drama queen of East High class of 2008. She was a successful actress and musical star. She was discovered with Troy when they both did American Star Maker together after Kim made both do something fun that summer instead of just watching her go through rehab. A good sob story will get you ahead in any situation. As much as Sharpay wants to despise Gabriella for getting her dream, Sharpay realizes that she has more than Gabriella ever will. Also she owes Gabriella for making sure Kim did not make the worst mistake of her life. She also owes her for leaving the set of her latest project so she could be here for Ryan. Her brother is currently wedged between Gabriella and Taylor.

"You know the day before all this happened Zack asked me if I would be their carrier? I never got a chance to tell him yes." Penelope said in a whisper. Sharpay wanted to cry at that moment for her future niece or nephew that was lost but she couldn't risk losing it at the moment.

"Are you going to be okay?" Sharpay asked.

"Not today, maybe tomorrow." Penelope said taking the tissue from her.

"Let's get out there." Sharpay said taking Penelope's hand.

* * *

**April 30, 2009**

Troy was mentally exhausted after attending the funeral for his best friend's father in law. He tried very hard to forget that this funeral was caused by the woman who gave birth to him. He could not think of Lucy as his mother anymore. He hated her more than anything in the world. She took his child away from him. There's no forgiveness possible for something that heinous. The last thing he wanted to have was a very serious conversation with Gabriella and Penelope, who was staying with him to take care of Alex. Although really as far as Troy was concerned this was Penelope's house too. So he expected her to be there. Of course, he did not expect Gabriella to tell him that his fiancée was planning on breaking up with him because she no longer felt that she deserved him.

"How do I convince her that I don't care if she is in a wheelchair or could give me another child?" Troy asked the two women in the living room.

"I suggest wedding rings." Penelope suggested and Gabriella just nodded in agreement.

"Be serious." Troy said with a frustrated sigh.

"That's what I'm suggesting. You need to show her that you're serious. A marriage license would do that, as long as you actually keep your marriage vows." Penelope said with a vicious smile.

"I think she's right. She needs to believe you are not going anywhere. Kim is absolutely terrified right now. She just lost her ability to have more children and chances are she is never going to be able to walk again unless there's some medical breakthrough in the future. She is afraid that she's going to lose you too." Gabriella explained. Troy really did not need that much convincing.

"Okay. Penelope how fast can your friend Marc put a wedding together?"

"Pretty fast, considering your bride still can't leave her hospital room." Penelope replied snidely.

"Call him. We have a wedding to plan." Was all Troy said as he prepared to ask his future stepmom for the phone number of her favorite judge.

To be concluded.


	50. The Future is in the Past 3

Thank you to everybody who read the last chapter. This is the final chapter of Scenes from Freshman Year. Thank you to everybody who has stuck through this story through all its insane soap opera twists and turns. Also, thank you to anybody who put this story on alert or added it to his or her favorites. Thank you to Teddy Bear who has been the beta for a good portion of this story.

The idea for the restaurant in this chapter is based on an actual restaurant in Albuquerque. I saw it on _Diners, Drive-ins and Dives_ when I was working on this chapter, and I just had to use it. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the restaurant.

There will probably not be a sequel to this story because I don't think there's enough interest. I mostly finished it because when I was in the hospital last year after getting hit by the car I knew I would regret it if I died without finishing this. So, I can now cross this off my bucket list. I may do some short High School Musical stories in the future but nothing this epic ever again. I can't believe how long this story is. So without further ado, the 50 and final chapter.

* * *

**T****he Future is in the Past. Part three**

April 29, 2023

New Mexico

"I'm so glad you agreed for me to help you." Kerri said as Penelope open the door to allow her into her spacious house. It was a three bedroom vintage home in one of the better suburbs of Albuquerque. The only reason why she can afford a house like this on her salary is because Sharpay graciously gave Penelope a cut of the royalties for Scenes from an American High School because it was based off of A Very High School Musical that they worked on together their freshman year of college. If it does become a TV show she will finally be able to afford a decent summer vacation without asking her boss for the 'family rate' at the Garden hotel of her choice.

"Actually it was Sharpay's idea." Penelope explained. It really was. Sometime during the mess that was Zack's funeral, Sharpay decided that it was completely unfair for a non-alumni to plan the thing. Maybe she just realized how much Penelope was drowning. Between her childhood friend dying and the press following her to get the real reaction on what Richard did to her now that the truth came out after his death, she felt overwhelmed. She could go through the motions, but anything extra was beyond her. "She is the one paying your salary." Of course, Sharpay could not help herself but she was perfectly willing to pay for professional help. Penelope really didn't care.

"Please I would volunteer my services for free to avoid the crepe paper disaster that was my high school reunion. What they did with the East High Bobcat was a crime against good taste." Kerri said with a shiver.

"You went to the East High reunion? I thought you went to Sandra Academy for your final year." Penelope asked confused not that she kept up with Sharpay's charge that well but they did live in the same town the year before Chad and Sharpay moved to California and Kerri accepted a basketball scholarship out East.

"They claim me anyway now. Being on a basketball team that won an NCAA championship make some former classmates kiss your ass. We attended mostly to mess with everyone's head." Penelope was sure that 'we' refer to Jimmy, Kerri's public friend and private lover. Even if she just knew the two from TMZ, she would already know what was going on. It was too obvious.

"I honestly think that's the only reason why Sharpay is coming to the reunion this time."

"Actually it's probably because Amanda planned for her wedding to be the next day to prevent another bachelor party disaster." Kerri remarked darkly referring to what happened last time.

"I am surprise you're the one here. Not that I'm not happy because you did a really good job on the funeral. Don't you usually handle the very high profile stuff?" Penelope asked.

"In DC yes, but I pretty much handed over all the good stuff to Tierra here in New Mexico because I thought I would be taking over DC operations for the duration of the campaign. I only kept the Baylor wedding because Amanda is a close personal friend and I am in the wedding party. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control I need to lay low in New Mexico until a certain Maryland special election." Kerri said with irritation.

"You mean the condom breaking when you were having sex with a married man whose husband is trying to run a very high profile senate campaign. I'm guessing Taylor doesn't want to lose her campaign manager to a scandal." Penelope said sarcastically. Just because everybody else in the group avoids the elephant in the room doesn't mean she will. She doesn't criticize other people's personal choices however she likes people to be a bit more honest about it.

"What is a condom?" A certain four year old asked from the living room. You would think after eight years of teaching she would remember to censor herself better when the impressionable were in listening distance.

"Alex says that the reason why he's here is that daddy forgot to use one when he was a teenager. Is that why you are pregnant?" A certain seven year old replied in a way that would be just mortifying if she were Troy. She found it highly amusing.

"Did I forget to mention I'm babysitting the evil two because Amanda and Zeke are taking Kim and Troy out for their wedding anniversary?" Penelope said with a smile.

"That would have been helpful." Kerri said before turning to the children. "Sometimes when people are not able to have a child on their own they ask a third person to help. I'm helping Jimmy and Marc to have a baby because they want one really badly." Kerri explained in a way that most small children would understand. Not these children, unfortunately.

"Why?" Ivy asked again.

"Because they want to have a kid?" Kerri said sheepishly. It almost sounded like a question.

"Why?" This time it was Gabi that asked.

"Let me talk to Penelope for a little bit and then I will let you guys help me decide on the decorations for the East High gym for your daddies' high school reunion." Kerri suggested.

"But I want to know why you're having Uncle Jimmy's baby. Uncle Chad said that Jimmy was a polllikeamess. He was also mad that Jimmy was going to have a baby and he wasn't. What is a polllikeamess?" Zeke's daughter asked completely butchering the word polygamous. Kerri looked like she wanted to hide under the furniture.

As a high school teacher, Penelope was immune to this sort of thing. You should hear the questions that she has got from students about the entire Richard fiasco in the last few weeks. This was mild by comparison.

The thing that hurt her was Chad being upset about Jimmy getting to have a biological child when that was never going to happen for him. Every time one of his friends announced the impending birth of their child Chad always got this sad look. She wanted to help him but she wasn't sure how.

"I can't answer that question for you but your Uncle Chad will. We can call him after we pick out the decorations." Penelope answered with a smile. If he got himself into this mess he was going to be the one that would answer the inappropriate questions.

"Okay. Can we have cookies?" The four year old asked.

"Later. Why don't you go color in the kitchen?" Penelope suggested and the children finally left.

"God, you should have worn me. They are much more vicious than the twins ever were. Actually, they are as bad as that TMZ reporter that ran into me at the grocery store last week. Why are they even here? I assumed that Alex was their usual baby sitter of choice." Kerri questioned as she started to pull out her IPad.

"Supposedly, he was busy doing something with one of his friends. Personally, I think this was an excuse to keep me from spending another Saturday night eating vast quantities of cookie dough ice cream as I watched Lifetime movies. It's almost enough to make me miss grading papers. Zack would have been much more direct." Penelope said with a frown. Whenever she would act like this he would fly down and drag her to the nearest club. Her other friends ask her to baby sit. Although spending time with the children is still an improvement on her normal solitude.

"I think the reason why you're sitting in your home making Ben and Jerry's very rich is Zack's death." Kerri said as she pulled up a simulation of the East High cafeteria on the screen.

"Maybe, but I'm getting through it. At least, I'm still getting up and going to work every day. According to Sharpay, Ryan has not even got up the courage to go back to his apartment. He is still living in her guest room. He hasn't returned to work either although unlike me he doesn't need the money. The joys of being a trust fund baby." The fact that Zack died in the same month when the Lucy fiasco happened did not make the situation easier on anyone, especially Ryan. She could understand why he was a complete mess. "I wish there was something I could do to get him out of this, I'm just not sure how.

"You're right there are worse ways to deal with grief and we all do it differently. When her father died, Sharpay took over an entire company and Ryan had relations with his future husband in the men's room during the viewing and the funeral the next day. I may or may not have convinced my ex boyfriends current boyfriend to let me have S-e-x with my act so I wouldn't die a virgin. The word was spelled out to keep little ears from figuring out what they were talking about but it was still enough to shock Penelope. "You just have to let it play out for now."

"What?" Penelope asked nearly screaming. The kids were so going to hear this.

"Okay I really did convince Jimmy to do you know what with me, okay rather I convinced Marc to let me do it." Her mouth was open an absolute shock. "No he didn't watch, that time." Kerri hastily added, the last part muffled so softly that Penelope could barely hear her. Penelope practically fell out her chair. Really she shouldn't be surprised it was the running joke in the group even if Chad was probably the only one who knew for sure.

"That wasn't what I was asking about. Ryan and Zack at the Funeral Home? I Mean I knew Chad and Sharpay did something inappropriate but its Chad and Sharpay." Really, who hasn't heard those two doing something inappropriate by this point? Penelope is shocked that they never had an actual sex tape.

"You weren't there because you were helping to take care of Alex but the funeral was insane. Mr. Bolton caught the couple at the funeral after Sharpay disappeared. Jimmy was the one who saw everything at the Viewing. We all kept quiet because Ryan couldn't deal with Taylor freaking out." Kerri explained.

"Please her reaction was bad enough at the end of summer when Ryan told her." The week before sophomore year started they all got together to just hang out at one of the nearby Beijing Gardens resort hotels. It must have been just a few weeks after Nikki's father died. Her stepmother was forcing her to go back to New Mexico. It was Chad's idea that they do something to cheer her and everyone else up with a weekend in the desert. Ryan brought his new boyfriend along without mentioning to his ex girlfriend that he was dating someone else. Taylor's response was to throw him in the pool.

"We probably need to start talking about what you need for this reunion before the evil two come in here and start asking questions I don't want to answer." Kerri said trying to get back on task.

"Good point. I need to return my attentions to the children before they start drawing on the walls. I want something nice. Since this is East High, we should probably have karaoke and lots of room for dancing. No crepe paper and is there any way on earth we can avoid using the school colors? I thought the West High colors were hideous, but East's colors are substantially worse."

"I can work with that." Kerri said pulling up various mockups on her IPad. After 2 hours they actually had something usable with a few interesting ideas from the girls involving glitter. They finished just in time for her reunion planner to spend quality time in the restroom. Penelope was kind enough to bring her a ginger ale.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I agreed to do this." Kerri said sipping her ginger ale.

"I thought the only thing you agreed to was unprotected sex." Penelope quipped. It was safe to do so because the children were downstairs.

"I was raised by Chad Evans. The man gives condoms as birthday presents. I know how not to get pregnant. It really was a planned pregnancy, sort of. Jimmy loves children and as much as he argues otherwise, Marc does as well. You know how much he adores Ivy. Adoption was going to take forever and after all the problems that happened with the Boltons and their first carrier they were wary so they asked me to help. I agreed because I want to take that sadness away." Kerri explained.

"And the fact that you're doing it the Babylonian way?" Penelope asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It was more practical for our situation. You already know that we're still FWB. The only drawback was it's harder to plan the thing when you're doing it the old fashioned way. We were going to hold off until after the election to keep trying but it just happened anyway. Chad found it extremely funny that I got pregnant as soon as we actually stop trying."

"He found it funny?" She question.

"Mostly, he is still a little upset over you know."

"I know. I know they both want to have a child together so badly. They are great parents. All things considered, Olivia and Isaac came out pretty normal."

"They even took me in. Chad is probably my only decent father figure." Kerri added.

"I wish I could help."

"You could. As far as I know you have a perfectly working uterus and it's not busy at the moment. I would volunteer to be there carrier but I'm already busy and I still don't like needles."

"I don't think I'm as adventurous as you are." Penelope quipped.

"I don't think Sharpay would volunteer for that anyway. I meant the normal way for this type of thing."

"I'll think about it." Was Penelope's only response that.

* * *

"Seriously Zeke owns five of the best restaurants in town and he's taking us to a liquor store for our anniversary dinner." Kim said once she managed to get herself out of the car and into her chair. "I'm not even 100% sure there's a wheelchair ramp."

"I thought that's why you got a chair that does stairs. You're just looking for any excuse not to be here. I agreed with you to cancel our regular anniversary party in light of recent events but you still got to eat something." Every year's since they were married Troy always threw her a huge anniversary party. Actually, that first year it was Gabriella's idea and the entire thing was filmed for American Star Maker but it was their way of getting over the negativity associated with the month before. With Ryan's husband dying just a few weeks earlier it didn't feel like the right time to throw a party.

"I got a chair that can do stairs because I want to be able to function as normally as possible. Also as we both know those red carpet events are not that accessible. Seriously you can't be the first celebrity with a disabled wife." Kim said still looking at the establishment with disdain.

"Probably not but you're the first to go to all the parties." Troy said with a smirk before continuing.

"I'm super busy working on my next album and I really would like to do something on my day off other than watching you going over the lesson plans of other teachers or arguing with your sister. Alex was never that bad. Why did we agreed to let her live with us again?" Troy asked with a sigh.

"Because she has been acting up since dad died and none of us want her to break your record of the youngest person in the family to become a parent. 15 was bad enough. We volunteered to help because we set such a bad example." Kim quipped.

"Technically I was 16 when Alex was born. We're never going to be forgiven for that?" Troy asked with a sigh.

"Not really." Kim said equally annoyed.

"At least we don't have to worry about Alex." Troy said with a laugh. "The only girl he's interested in is Gabriella."

Since he was four years old Alex has had a major crush on Gabriella. Every time Gabriella dated someone else he has a tantrum. The worst was when she almost got married three years ago, but he left when he found out about Gabi. Alex celebrated for three days when the wedding was called off. It would probably be adorable if it wasn't for the fact that Gabriella was the biological mother of his baby sister. However if Kim learned anything from her own mother it was that saying no will just make the situation worse.

"For now, all bets are off when he turns 18." She said with a laugh.

"Nothing will happen. Gabriella is his sister's biological mom." Troy argued.

"My threats only applied until his 18th birthday. I'm not my mother. My children can be with whoever they want even if I find it a little disturbing. Okay maybe it's good that we're at a liquor store." Kim said finally going inside, realizing that she wasn't going to get out of this dinner.

To her surprise, once you get through the liquor store there was actually a good restaurant behind it that allegedly served the best stakes in town. Thankfully only Zeke and Amanda were actually at the table. For a moment, she was worried that she was going to be ambushed by a surprise party. Instead she was treated to Zeke approved appetizers. Unfortunately she couldn't get out of a Sharpay Evans tradition even if her best friend was in New York dealing with a depressed brother and two twins that desperately hated their school enough that they asked her for transfer papers for East High when they were in town for the funeral. At every anniversary party, since she has been married to Troy, Sharpay would read a short story about true love and Kim's relationship with Troy. This year Amanda would be reading or rather reciting the story from memory.

"Once upon a time in a place not that far from here lived a girl named Kim. She had a wonderful father, but a horrible mother. It was an arranged marriage and there was never any love there at all. Despite seeing her parents fight all the time she wanted to find real love." Amanda started looking directly at Kim.

"Do you really have to do this?" Kim asked her with a glare.

"Yes, it's a tradition." Troy answered back.

"It's an embarrassing tradition. Can we at least skip to the part about the wedding? I liked the part about you and Marc sneaking into my hospital room to turn it into a wedding paradise." Kim quipped.

"Nope, your wedding is very important to me because without meeting your grandfather there I would have never had a chance to go back to culinary school. This is how we commemorate that wonderful day. Shut up, enjoy your wine, and listen to the pretty lady read." Zeke told her.

"Fine but this had better be some really good steak." Kim grumbled.

"Best in the city and I brought my own very special raspberry truffle cream layer cake for dessert." Zeke said with a smile.

"Find but I am only doing this for the food." Kim complained. Amanda just started again.

"Kim did find her love in the most unexpected place, the student that her health teacher begged her to teach."

* * *

**May 1, 2009**

Kim initially blamed the industrial strength opiate family pain killers for her visions of red roses and white lace. A medication induced hallucination was the only logical explanation for her hospital room looking like the little wedding chapel of love. There were doves and those white paper wedding bells hanging over her bed that Sharpay refused to let her use at her wedding. In front of her Marc was now barking orders at some poor candy striper helping him redecorate her hospital room.

"Marc what the hell is going on? Why are there flowers everywhere?" She asked.

"Usually when somebody survives getting shot the hospital room is filled with flowers." Marc responded snidely not really answering her question.

"When I fell asleep I was surrounded by daisies and carnations. Now there are red and white roses everywhere. Also I feel like I am covered in glitter."

"Sorry about that, I spilled a bottle on you when I tripped." Responded that unknown volunteered who was currently replacing her traditional hospital curtain with cream lace drapery.

"Explain Marc." Kim demanded.

"Ask your boyfriend and Gabriella. This was their idea to cheer you up." Marc told her.

"The Valentine's Day theme is supposed to cheer me up. Its April, you are two months too late for that." She remarked bitterly.

"Today's May 1." Marc remarked.

"Time moves differently when you're stuck in a hospital bed." She replied back

"You're not stuck. Don't you have physical therapy?" Marc asked.

"Soon, although that's not really going to start until I move into the long care rehab facility. Sharpay is trying to get me the room next to Tiffany's so I can visit whenever I want." Kim said sarcastically.

"She's already drawing up blueprints. It gives her something to do during the boring calls with the lawyers." Chad said walking into the room in the same suit that he wore for his own wedding, although the colors were different. His lapel and cover bon were a deep crimson that matched all the decorations in her once drab hospital room.

"Why is she meeting with the lawyers? More importantly why are you wearing a suit. You only wear something other than a T shirt and jeans at funerals or court appearances. I thought Mr. Evans was buried yesterday?" She asked.

"He was. That's because the lawyers now feel that it's okay to pounce on Sharpay to make all the decisions about the estate and company."

"I can understand the estate things, but my father is the number two at the company. He should be doing that stuff." Kim told him.

"Who is dealing with a daughter who almost got killed less than a week ago and who a newborn. Sharpay doesn't want to put any extra pressure on him." Chad said with an annoyed sigh.

"That is so Sharpay. She tries to take on the world herself because she is afraid to let anybody help her. You still didn't answer my question about the tuxedo."

"That's because I cannot answer it yet. Watched the video file," Chad said handing her his iPhone. On the screen was an image of a tuxedo clad Troy with baby Alex wearing one of his adorable suits.

"I had a very interesting conversation with Gabriella last night. Apparently, somewhere in that mind of yours you think it's better for me if you just leave. That's absolute bull. I had to live without you once before and I'm not going to do it again. I don't give a fu… I don't care if you're in a wheelchair." Troy said correcting his profanity. Not that it would help because their two year old already says the F word all the time.

"I need to prove to you that I'm not letting you go ever. Here's the deal, we are getting married today. No negotiations. I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Her mouth dropped at that moment as the file ended.

"He's giving me an ultimatum to marry him." She said in surprised.

"No he's proving that he's always going to be here no matter what. I mean you already have a kid together, you already are bound for life anyway." Chad told her.

"Yes one kid and there's never going to be another one." Kim said sadly. She is just starting to accept that her baby was gone

"So what, Sharpay and I are probably in the exact same boat. At lease you have one." He said bringing out a point that she wasn't quite ready to accept.

"What will happen if I say yes?" Kim asked.

"Sharpay's team of ninja hairdressers and makeup artists will descend upon you to make you the best hospital bride ever." Chad said with a smile.

"What about the dress? There's no way in hell I'm getting married in a hospital gown." Kim objected.

"It's taken care of. I called Nikki last night after your future husband to be told me about this crazy wedding. She is a design major and had a few very interesting ideas." Marc said just as Penelope came in holding the beautiful cream wedding dress that Kim kept eyeing the entire time she was picking out things for Sharpay's wedding in March.

"I knew you'd like this dress. The hard part was getting an army of seamstress to modify it so we could slip it over you like a hospital gown." Penelope said turning the dress around to show that the back was held together by Velcro.

"I can't believe I'm actually going to do this. I blame whatever they put in my IV bag." She said with a sigh as she motioned for Penelope to come forward with the wedding dress. It was selfish but she did not want to let Troy go.

"The wedding is a go." Marc yelled into his ear piece. Within seconds, she was surrounded by what seemed like every hair dresser and stylus in the city. By the time they were done, she looked like paraplegic wedding day Barbie.

During the makeover, Judge Suarez came in to talk to her about why she was getting married. The judge was able to help her deal with a lot of her fears and completely convinced her that it was better to just give in instead of running away again.

"You look perfect." Sharpay said smiling as she gave her a kiss on the cheek. Sharpay was wearing a crimson bridesmaid dress. If they didn't spend a small fortune for Sharpay's wedding a little over a month ago, Kim doubted that they would be able to pull this off so quickly. Then again everybody loves a sob story.

"That's the makeup and the dress. I can't believe you told him." She said slightly annoyed.

"I didn't say anything, it was all Gabriella. As much as you believe otherwise, he really loves you. Kim you have to stop doing what you think is best for everyone else and start doing what's best for you. You can be selfish today." Sharpay said in a whisper.

"I'm being selfish, I agreed to this wedding. I'm ready Marc." She called to her eager wedding planner.

The room was soon filled with family and friends. Chad and Sharpay stood on her right side. They were the best man and best woman respectively. Next to the two were Penelope and Gabriella also dressed as bridesmaids. Gabriella was holding onto Alex or at least trying to. Within seconds, her toddler was handed over to her. Troy and Judge Suarez were on her other side along with her stepmom and father. At the foot of the bed was her maternal grandfather who came as soon as he could after hearing about the shooting. Also up front were Caroline and Jack. The pair have been here with her almost every day. Marc was at the door with a reporter who was recording everything.

"We're in this hospital room to celebrate love." Judge Suarez started. "Love it is the greatest thing in the universe yet is not always easy to maintain. I'm here to bring together two people who have endured much for their love." The judge started.

* * *

"Why did you decide to get married?"The reporter asked Troy on screen.

"I asked her to marry me months earlier but we wanted to wait until I was at least 21. After the accident I wanted to prove that I would be with her always." Troy said with a smile as he squeezed Kim's hand on screen. In their bedroom exactly 14 years later Troy squeezed her hand again. It was tradition that on their anniversary day they would watch the video file together. Their anniversary dinner which she did enjoy because they really did have great steaks in the restaurant behind the liquor store happened on the weekend. The video file watching happened on their actual anniversary after the traditional sex marathon. Thank god some of her girl parts still worked.

"Your fiancé heir apparent to the Beijing Gardens empire Kim Bolton was not just in a mere accident. It was actually your…" Troy quickly cut off the reporter before she could mention she who will not be named.

"Today's my wedding day and I'd rather not think about how close I came to losing the love of my life. I love Kim and I would do anything for her, even get married in a hospital room."

After that the reporter started talking about how this was not your normal rush wedding and showed the absolutely fabulous spread of food that Zeke came up with on super short notice. They even managed to have a wedding cake. There is a replica of that blueberry cream cake currently sitting in her kitchen. Zeke usually sends her one every year as her wedding gift and also as a 'thank you for getting him back in to culinary school' gift. Kim really can't take credit for that it was her grandfather who saw his potential when he tried the buffet that Zeke created with only a few hours' notice. However, Kim will take that thank you gift no questions asked.

"It was a beautiful wedding even if I was slightly stoned out of my mind at the time." Kim remarked as Sharpay appeared on screen being overly bubbly despite losing her father just days earlier. Kim thinks that her wedding was also a great distraction for both Sharpay and Ryan.

Just as the file ended her phone rang. Of course, it was Sharpay. She was the only friend brave enough to call on anniversary night. Even Alex knew not to be home today. He volunteered to take his aunts and baby sister to the movies. She only allowed it on a school night because she was expecting good sex.

"Hi Sharpay, you called just in time. We just finished watching the wedding video stuff."

"I knew you wouldn't pick up the phone if you were still in the middle of the sex part of the evening. Anyway, I'm calling to wish you a happy anniversary and to see if you got my present." Sharpay's present was three nights at the new Lava Springs Resort. Darby lost control of the country club and everything else because Vince died before the divorce was finalized. He knew his death was coming and he adjusted his will so that everything went into the trust that Sharpay controlled. It took her 14 years but Sharpay completely transformed Lava Springs into New Mexico's premier retreat and convention center.

"I love it. I'm going to have to get a babysitter, but I love it." Kim said with a smile.

"Caroline already said she would be happy to take care of all the kids. She loves spending time with the grandkids and Van wants some quality time with her BFF." Van was the nickname of Troy and Chad's oldest little sister. She was named after Sharpay's father, sort of. There are not a lot of V names to choose from. Troy and Chad also share a 10 year old sister named Chloe and a five year old Brother. (She thought that at least one of her children would not have aunts and uncles that were younger than they were but what Caroline thought was menopause, was actually baby number four. Thankfully, her mother in law started the change two months ago so there would be no more siblings. Although now that Caroline is a Judge, Kim wondered how she found the time to have so many.

"That's true. So why else did you call? What's wrong?" Kim asked because she knew Sharpay way too well after nearly 30 years of friendship.

"Nothing's wrong." Sharpay said in a voice that told Kim she was right.

"Sharpay something is always wrong." She told her friend.

"Nothing more than the usual." Sharpay said with another sigh. "Isaac and Olivia got in another fight with their classmates. The teasing is worse than ever, to the point I'm considering putting the two in public school next year."

"By public, you mean the Fame school." Kim supplied.

"Of course, Olivia is a dance genius and Isaac plays 12 instruments. At that type of school they would be perfectly normal."

"Except for the fact, that they have very famous parents. At a school for the performing arts everybody is going to know who you are." Kim quipped.

"Very true, but at Least, drama kids will be respectful."

"The kids having problems in school can't be the only reason why are calling."

"The Hospital that Chad works at has decided that they don't want a doctor on their staff that is a reality star." Sharpay spat out bitterly.

"He's doing a sex education TV show, not the real Monday Mornings of New York." Kim said quoting the name of Bravo's reality doctor Soap opera.

"I know it's a lie, considering several other staff members are actually on that reality TV show. His bosses are just jealous. It's not that bad of a thing. Chad was thinking about going into private practice anyway. Besides he has the blog and TV show to keep him busy." Sharpay explained.

"He can always set up shop in New Mexico and I bet the twins would love to go to school there. My students are too afraid of me to do anything too stupid. Mrs. Mckessie is looking for another partner. Isn't Chad also an OB-GYN in addition to everything else?" Kim asked. She has been trying to get Sharpay to move back to Albuquerque for years but she always comes up with multiple excuses not to.

"Technically, yes. Though, there still is the show. It's supposed to shoot in New York." Sharpay argued.

"Troy has managed to successfully convince five different studios to shoot in New Mexico because it's cheaper. You know that pilot that he is shooting for ABC?" Kim asked.

"You mean the TV adaptation of my very own Scenes From an American High School. I find it deeply ironic that he was cast to play a character that I based on his father." Sharpay said with a laugh.

"You're one of the few that knows that. Anyway, if it does get picked up they are going to shoot in Albuquerque for the sake of budget and authenticity." Kim said with a smile. Thankfully, her husband was in the bathroom when she technically violated the confidentiality agreement to keep quiet about the plans for the show.

"That would be fabulous. Why hasn't anybody told me this?" Sharpay asked.

"It's supposed to be a surprise. Besides, we won't know anything until the upfront next week. In addition, the production company is in top secret negotiations to buy West High for shooting. Only a handful of people know that the school is getting close down next year. Despite my recommendations, there waiting for the last possible moment to let students know that they won't be coming back their next year. The real reason why I have Penelope doing the high school reunion is so she will be so busy that she will not have time to react when the news goes public soon. Unfortunately, she now has other distractions." Kim said darkly.

"What?" Sharpay asked in total surprise. "Why?"

"The school is underperforming and unlike EHS it does not have rich benefactors to pay for renovations or IPads for students who can't afford to buy their own. You have no idea how much of my own money I spent on making this building disabled friendly. It made a very nice tax write-off. Also enrollment has dropped severely since the district approved a plan that would allow future thespians and AP students to attend the much better funded East High instead of you know actually giving money to the other schools in the district." Kim said with anger. She is tired of the school board using her for their own means but she doesn't want her students to suffer.

"What about the students?" Sharpay was one of the few people other than her that has asked that question.

"They will be sent to all the other high schools in the city. East high is not going to pick up a lot of extra students since we already absorbed a good 15% of the students that should have been going to that school in the first place because we have the best AP program in the state. However, we always have room for a few more. We would be happy to have Olivia and Isaac here as students. If they were here, I could protect them from the stupidity of their peers. The freshmen are afraid I'm going to run over them in my power chair." She joked.

"I wonder who started that rumor."

"Penelope, she was having a bad day. Enough about the politics of the Albuquerque public school system, my whole point is that you can easily have the production moved here."

"It is a possibility also the powers that be are trying to get me to do something beyond writing the pilot script. However, I really don't have time for more. Not with what's going on with Ryan."

"Is he getting better?" Kim asked with concern.

"He's eating three times a day and he showers regularly. That's an improvement." Sharpay said with sadness.

"It is that bad?" Kim asked.

"Since we got back from the funeral the only time he has left the apartment has been to collect his things from his dressing room after he handed in his resignation." Sharpay explained.

"That is not good."

"I don't know what to do. He so lost." Sharpay was almost crying at that moment. "Moving is out of the question completely for Ryan's sake alone. I can't leave him right now, not even for the twins."

"Do you think that maybe a change of scenery would help?" She asked as an idea occurred to her.

"I don't know. I just want my brother back." Sharpay said on the verge of tears.

"It's going to take time."

"I Know."

"However, I do have an idea how to get him out of your guest room. Is he still coming to the wedding and reunion next month?" She asked.

"I can barely get him to the kitchen. I doubt it."

"You get him on the plane by whatever means necessary and I will take care of the rest." Kim told her. She had a plan but she would need Gabriella and Penelope to help.

"Fine." It was all Sharpay said. "If you could get Troy to leave your rehab room 14 years ago, I am sure you can get me my guest room back. Although I seriously doubt an American Star maker audition will help."

* * *

**June 1, 2009**

She has been married exactly one month and she was beginning to regret it. Not because she didn't love her husband but because he just stayed with her. He had nothing planned beyond what they were trying to have for dinner and who was going to take care of Alex that day. He was acting like his life was over and it just didn't sit well with her. She could barely get him to go out for lunch with Chad or Gabriella.

This is exactly why she wants to break up with him in the first place. Just because she was stuck in a wheelchair did not mean that his life was over. Troy even took an incomplete this semester because he refused to go back to take his final exams. Even Ryan and Gabriella went back to finish this semester. Everyone who finished did well all things considered, although Chad is upset because he only got a B + in intro to acting due to missing too many classes. Kim personally thinks his professor was being generous because of the circumstances of all of those absences. Nobody can miss that many classes where attendance counts as part of your grade and still get a good grade under normal circumstances.

There wasn't much to do when you're stuck in rehab except hang out with your friends and surf the Internet. Studying for her makeup exams wasn't something she was ready to do, because she was still on too many pain killers. Studying for her physics classes and anything from the opiate family was not going to result in anything good. At some point, she came across the ad for the auditions for American Star Maker in San Francisco. If Sharpay wasn't so busy keeping the Evans Corporation from falling apart she would be forcing everyone there to participate or at least the old Sharpay would. The new Sharpay was changing diapers and taking online business classes. Talent shows were no longer the most important thing in her world, but it would make a good distraction for everyone else.

It made Gabriella wish she was spending the summer in San Francisco instead of being there in Albuquerque to support her and Troy. She spent an hour talking about how much fun it would be.

"You should go for the auditions. Actually you both should." She suggested later that day when both Troy and Gabriella were in her room..

"I can't leave you here." Troy said as an excuse.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon. My days consist of eating, sleeping, and physical therapy. You should do something fun. I have other baby sitters like my stepmom and Penelope."

"Hanging out with you is fun." Troy argued. She did not believe him.

"I almost broke up with you because I didn't want you to waste your life and now you doing exactly what I feared you would do. You know technically our marriage is not legal yet because we can't you know. An annulment would not be that hard to get under the circumstances." She suggested hoping that would break him out of whatever is going on in that mind of his.

"You're threatening me?"

"What your wife is trying to say is that for her to be in good health and spirits she needs to know that you're out there doing something." Gabriella explained.

"Seeing you mope around like this is not good for my recovery." Kim added.

"So you want me to do this?"

"I personally would be happy for a pickup game between you and Chad at this point. I just want you to not give up because of what happened. If we act like we're dead, Lucy wins. Don't let her take away your happiness." She said paraphrasing what Sharpay told her nearly a month ago

"Fine I will go." Troy acquiesced.

"Thank you" Gabriella kept repeating over and over again as she kissed Troy on the cheek.

* * *

**May 31, 2023**

In high school, everyone expected Gabriella to become either a doctor or lawyer, including her mother and father. It was the only option for a brain like her. No one saw pop princess or American film darling as a possibility, except for Kim. She was the one who pushed Gabriella to take a path that no one expected her to ever consider. She owed the woman.

So therefore, when Kim called her asking for help to get Ryan out of Chad's house she would do it. Besides she loved Ryan and no one else in their group understands real depression the way she does. According to Sharpay even after nearly two months, he is still barely functioning. Even Taylor's best efforts are not making an impact she can barely get him to go to the Starbucks down the street. Olivia can get him to eat but that's only with inundating him with stories of why she absolutely hates her school and the eighth grade.

So of course, nobody else was going to be able to get Ryan to Amanda's wedding and the class of 2008 high school reunion. That's why they call her in. When she saw Ryan streaming old episodes of Glee wearing one of his husband's ratty basketball tee shirts she knew what she had to do.

"Put this on." She said throwing an outfit that actually matched at him courtesy of his sister.

"Gabriella what are you doing here?" Ryan asked.

"Getting you out of your sister's house, I would like to get you to my summer house in New Mexico, but I would settle for a slice of pizza two blocks over."

"I told Sharpay I don't want to go. I'm not ready to face questions about my lack of husband."

"You don't have to go to the reunion. Do you think I'm looking forward to questions about my broken engagement or about why things did not work out with Troy? However there are people I want to catch up with. I haven't seen Martha since she left my tour to marry Jason Cross. She would love for you to speak to her class Friday." For some reason Ryan looked very uncomfortable at that moment

"I thought your engagement fell apart because of Troy." Ryan said.

"My engagement fell apart because he was an ass who thought that he could tell me how to live my life. The fact that I'm little Gabi's biological mother had very little to do with anything. It is not like I actually gave birth to her. It was just another reason to argue." Gabriella explained.

"I just can't deal with it." Ryan said again.

"Then just go for Zeke's wedding. It's not a wedding unless you lead the entire group through your version of the electric slide." Gabriella joked.

"I would never force the electric slide on anyone." Ryan said horrified. It was good that he was showing any emotion at all.

"Sorry my mistake, you need to attend the wedding to keep that from happening."

"I just don't…" Ryan started again but Gabriella cut him off.

"I know you don't feel like doing anything. I know that better than anyone here. Ryan just because Zack is dead doesn't mean you have to be too. He wouldn't want you to live like this. You never wear gray and black." She said pointing to his outfit.

"I just…"

"Ryan if anyone here understands what you're going through it's me. Depression is a pretty normal part of my life you have no idea how many times I just wanted to curl up in a ball and never wake up. I'm not going to let that happen. You got me through one of the darkest parts of my life and now it's time for me to return the favor. Maybe a change of scenery will help break you out of this a little, along with some good medication."

"Going back to New Mexico is going to make me feel better? Ryan asked skeptically.

"It is a start."

* * *

**July 2, 2023**

Ryan wasn't sure how they convince him to even step on the plane to New Mexico. Let alone convince him to speak to the dance classes of Martha Cross formally Cox. (Yes, his ex boyfriend was still deep in the closet and his poor wife was still clueless about all his 'camping trips'.) Ryan is sure it has something to do with the anti depressants that Gabriella finally convinced him to take.

Thanks to a cash infusion from the Garden Foundation and other sources, East High now has two drama teachers, two dance teachers, a music teacher, a band teacher, and a choir director. It was the closest Albuquerque was ever going to get to a performing arts school. In an effort to get him over his depression, his well meaning friends were now forcing him to actually do things now that he was out of New York. Speaking to Martha's class was the first thing. The vibrant dance teacher forcing a promise out of him that he would come to the reunion Friday night was the other thing. Unknown to her, the guilt over knowing that her husband was most likely cheating on her was enough to get him to promise anything. It was his evil sister that probably manipulated Martha into asking. She was still deceitful like that.

Maybe coming here was a good thing. His time working with the students has been the first time he hasn't felt overwhelmed by grief since he found out about his Zack. The dance studio didn't remind him of picnic lunches with Zack in front of the ABC studios or walks in Central Park. He was so busy teaching that he didn't have time for anything else. It was good for him.

"It's good to see you smiling again." Kim said from the wings of the dance studio.

"It feels good to smile again." He replied

"You did a good job with the students."

"You were watching?" Ryan asked her.

"The entire school is wired for video and sound. It's hard to sneak up on unsuspecting students in a wheelchair. However, considering I got pregnant on the roof of this school while still a student I see this as a necessary investment."

"I shouldn't be surprised. You are Sharpay's best friend."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment. You're a good teacher." Kim praised.

"No, I'm a good choreographer."

"It goes beyond choreography. For years, I've been seeing you coach my son every time he has a performance. You're much more patient than Troy can ever be."

"My sister is Sharpay Evans. Patience is just one of those things you have to cultivate." Ryan joked. It felt good to do that again.

"Very true, I don't think that Chad could have survived 14 years of marriage without it." Kim said with a laugh. "However, I still think you're good at this. How would you like to do this sort of thing all the time?"

"Coming into school to speak to the students? I wouldn't mind doing it more often. I'm thinking about camping out in Gabriella's Albuquerque house for a little while. I don't think she's going to let me lounge around in bunny slippers the entire time, so I need to find something to do."

Sharpay was not even going to put up with that anymore. His sister said in no uncertain terms that she was kicking him out of her guest room permanently for his own good. Staying with Gabriella for a while as she works on her next album seemed like his best option. Actually, it was his only option unless he wanted to sleep on Taylor's couch until the end of election season or go back to the empty apartment that he shared with his husband for nearly a decade. The latter was no option at all and as much as he loves Taylor, it was better if he kept his distance until the election was over. Especially because there was a good chance that he wouldn't stay on the couch very long. Their relationship has always been complicated and he wasn't quite ready for whatever was going to happen next.

"No, I mean teaching classes here." Kim explained. "Penelope's replacement is only here to the end of the year. I need to find a permanent replacement to take over. You would coordinate the performing arts department, organize the fall play and spring musical, as well as do some of the acting classes. Although you mostly stick to choreography now, I know you can act and have done so on the great white way. In addition, since you are classically trained there are a few dance classes that you can teach that Martha can't such as ballet. Maybe we can start doing dance recitals as well. "

"I'm not a teacher." Was his initial response.

"No but you can teach and have done so on many occasions. I've seen you with Ivy and Olivia. That's more important for this type of thing. Because the drama program is mostly privately funded, I have more leeway with who I hire. I'm allowed to hire a subject matter expert for this type of thing even if they don't have a teaching certificate as long as you pass a background check. The fact that you graduated from Juilliard with honors and have a Tony award will be more important to the board of education than the fact you don't have a teaching certificate's. Besides you can get the later on if you want." Her argument was quite persuasive.

"You're actually serious?" He asked skeptically.

"As somebody who has gone through a major loss, I can understand how a change of location and staying busy may help you deal. Teaching high school students will keep you so busy that you won't have time to think about what has been keeping you in Sharpay's guest room for the last two months. Besides, if you are here maybe I can finally talk your sister into moving back home. They really do want her to be the head writer and a producer on _Scenes from an American High School_." That was the first time he's heard anything about this. Then again, he really hasn't been paying attention to anything recently.

"She's thinking about coming back? She hasn't mentioned that to me." Ryan asked.

"It's because of the problems the twins are having in school in New York. She and Chad were actually thinking of sending them to live with me next year if they can't come up with an alternative." Again, this is the first time he's heard of this but he knew things were bad. Actually, he probably knew more about how bad things were then Chad and Sharpay. It was much easier to tell your uncle about being shoved in a locker then your mother.

"That would kill her. She barely lets twins spend the night at our-my apartment when she and Chad were out of town for work reasons. Why don't they just move here? Chad won't be working at the hospital passed this summer and Sharpay can write anywhere even if she doesn't take the TV job. Chad's new show could just as easily tape here. Actually it probably would be cheaper." Ryan suggested.

"Even though your sister has kicked you out of her loft for the greater good, she's not going to leave you in New York to fend for yourself." Sharpay has always been there for him more than anyone else. She wouldn't leave him alone right now even if it meant sending the kids away for their own sake. He couldn't let her do that.

"Very true, let me think about it." Was all he could say at the moment.

"You can give me your answer at the wedding." Kim said smiling. "I believe you have your next class to speak to." Kim said as the students started pouring into the room.

He was so busy with students the rest of the day that he really did not have time to think about her offer. More importantly, he didn't have time to think about plane crashes and dead husbands. Actually he didn't even think about Zack until various classmates started asking him about why he was there with Jackie as his date at the reunion that night. (She was going to be there any way to make sure the event went off famously and if he was being forced to go he might as well not be alone.) Jackie's very pregnant death glare could only scare people off so much. When she was busy yelling at the catering staff, he decided to go to the roof. Penelope was already out there.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked as he sat next to her on one of the benches in the rose garden. The rooftop garden was so much more grand then it was when he was a student. There is also now an elevator that went up to the roof and a greenhouse.

"Avoiding that question, also, I have roof chaperoning duty this half hour. Even though everyone here is an adult, Kim still doesn't want her rose garden defiled."

"Unless she's the one doing it." Ryan quipped.

"Very true." Penelope said taking another drink of her punch.

"I'm not sure everyone here is an adult. Jose Martinez's date barely looks older than Olivia." Ryan joked again.

"I think you're talking about Courtney Castro. She's a very distant cousin, who I had in drama class last year before she graduated. She's over 18, but just barely."

"Now why can't they bombard him with inappropriate questions?" Ryan joked.

"Because last time you came to one of these things you were happily married and this time you're here with the very obviously pregnant Jackie. She looks at least six months pregnant, instead of not quite four."

"I thought they would ask more questions if I was alone. Everybody apologizes quickly enough when they find out …" he was unable to say anything else. It was Jackie or Sharpay who told everyone a horrible truth who didn't already know from the constant news coverage.

"On the bright side you are only being asked questions about Zack. I'm getting questions about why I'm here in the first place even though I went to the enemy school, the whole thing with Richard which has been all over the news recently, and my dead friend." Penelope told him with annoyance.

"Who's been asking that?" Ryan asked.

"Do you remember Curtis May? I think he was on the baseball team with you."

"I barely remember him from senior year. It was a big school."

"He's married to Zack's one and only ex girlfriend and it's not a very happy marriage. She asked me all sorts of questions about him that would be inappropriate under the best of circumstances. I spent a good 10 minutes talking about how happy Zack was in New York with his perfect husband before I told her about the plane crash in probably the most cruel way possible. She is currently crying in the ladies' room. That's when Kim sent me up here for roof duty. Worst of all she took away my champagne." Penelope pouted.

"That's absolutely horrible. At least they're letting you drink at all." Ryan shot back.

"You lost your husband and your mother died of alcohol poisoning. I can understand that. He wouldn't want you to destroy yourself." Penelope said sadly and he knew she was right.

"I know."

"He loved you so much. You gave him so much happiness and it would hurt him to see you this miserable. He would want you to move on and find some happiness." Penelope told him with one tear rolling down her cheek.

"Speaking of moving on, Kim offered me your old job." He told her.

"I know it was my idea. Zack made me promise that if anything happened to him that I would watch out for you. It will be easier for me to do that if you're in my school. Besides if you take over, I may be able to talk Kim into letting me teach a couple of classes next semester in addition to my Vice Principal duties."

"So this is a plan for your happiness?"

"Not completely." She said taking another drink of her punch. At that moment Martha and Kelsey exited the elevator.

"20 bucks says the first question Kelsey will ask is why I am here even though I went to West High." She mumbled under breath.

"You're on. I don't think Kelsey is that tactless." Ryan told her.

"She let you find out about your dad's death on CNN." Penelope whispered before putting on her favorite fake smile.

"What are you doing here? You did not even go to our school." Kelsey said as soon as she saw Penelope.

"Told you." Penelope said holding her hand out for her $20.00.

"That is so unfair." He mumbled as he handed her the 20.

"I am an honorary bobcat. I did lose my virginity in the boys' locker room. That has to count for something." Penelope said sarcastically.

"That doesn't surprise me." Kelsey mumbled under breath.

"Kelsey, Ms. Castro is the new Vice Principal at East High and my boss. She oversees all the arts programs at the school. She is here at the reunion as a chaperone to make sure us adults don't cause significant property damage. Kim sent me to relieve you. She also said you could go home if you want. Ms. Jackson is doing a good job of keeping everything under control."

"Thank god." Penelope said in relief.

"You're the new Vice Principal?" Kelsey asked with a bit surprised.

"Yes. Before that, I was the drama teacher here. What are you doing these days? I know your sister is a news anchor for the local ABC affiliate. She was here for career day. In addition, her husband is our Girls Basketball coach. Everybody loves Coach Cross, but that's mostly because our girls have won state four times. I see her all the time and she hasn't mentioned you." That would be because Jackie Cross hasn't been on speaking terms with her sister for the last 14 years. She couldn't forgive her sister for what happened with the CNN incident even if Ryan could. She was not even at Jackie's wedding five years ago to her high school sweetheart. (Eventually Jackie did get over the entire Jimmy thing. He was actually in her wedding party.)

"I am a radio personality. What about you?" Kelsey asked Ryan. 24 hours ago, he would have responded with 'I'm taking a break from being a Broadway choreographer.' Now he has a new answer.

"I'm going to be the new drama teacher here at East High."

"Thank god you're taking the job." Martha said hugging him.

"Your husband is okay with moving out here." Kelsey asked. Before Ryan could say anything, Martha turned around and gave her a very dark look.

"I think he would be perfectly fine with it. Unfortunately, he passed away two months ago. I know he would be happy with my choice though." Ryan said with a smile. "Let's go downstairs. Zeke said they had those mini crab cakes that you love so much." He said walking to the elevator as Penelope squeezed his hand in support. He could hear Kelsey being reprimanded in the background. Apparently, she was warned not to mention Zack but did it anyway. He was looking forward to Martha being a colleague if only she would realize…That her husband was currently making out with one of Ryan's fellow drama geeks in the elevator.

That was the site that greeted him and everyone else on the roof as soon as the elevator doors opened. Martha suddenly stopped yelling at Kelsey and started in on her husband.

"What the fuck is going on?" Martha yelled.

"We're going to take the stairs." Penelope said pulling him into the stairwell. It was at that moment Ryan realized that there were much more painful ways to lose a husband then a plane crash. He knew that Zack would have never done something like this to him. That made him feel a lot better.

* * *

"If one more person asks me why I changed my last name to Evans, I'm going to hit someone." Her husband said as he sat beside her and kissed her on the lips.

"It's better than getting, 'You are a high school principal? I didn't think people like you could do those sorts of jobs.' or 'That must be hard because you're in a wheelchair.' You think the acceptance of people with disabilities would have improved by 2023." Kim said sarcastically.

That's better than some of the other snide comments that Kim has received over the years. The first time Kim escorted her husband to the Grammys a certain journalist that will remain nameless assumed Kim was a make a wish winner and not Troy's wife. Let's just say that a certain network was fined by the FCC for her response.

"I thought most of the questions were going to be about why you married me in the first place." Sharpay said smiling at her husband. "Instead, they keep asking me if I'm jealous of Gabriella. Idiots." She said pointing at the starlet across from her. "This is why we avoided the first two reunions. Why are we here again?" Sharpay asked in annoyance.

"Because Zeke had the brilliant idea to turn a high school reunion into his bachelor party." Gabriella told the group. "Besides, if anybody should be jealous it's me. You're happily married with two wonderful kids and have a mantle filled with awards for things other than Best Kiss or Best Villain. You have also written the best children's series ever. I absolutely love the Country Club Chronicles. The two little girls remind me of you and Kim. They also remind me a lot of Ivy and Gabi." Gabriella praised. This was still slightly disconcerting for Sharpay.

"You're just sucking up because you want the role of the queen in the upcoming film adaptation _The Sleeping Queen_." Not that many people know that story was based on Tiffany. They assumed it was some weird sleeping beauty interpretation, not about her friend that is still in a coma and her twin children.

"Maybe." Gabriella said with a smile.

"Considering my first bachelor party turned into something out of the Hangover movies I've decided I wanted to spend the night with all my friends in an environment that will not result in somebody getting arrested or accidentally stoned." Zeke explained.

"It is not my fault one of my crazy Fans tried to kidnap me in Vegas and we all got drugged." Troy remarked under breath.

Sharpay was the only woman invited to the bachelor party festivities because she wouldn't let Chad go otherwise. Thankfully because of her habit of never drinking anything that didn't come from Chad or that she got herself in a party situation she was able to keep anything really bad from happening.

"You know if only you met a stripper with a heart of gold who convinced you not to marry you know who, you could avoid the whole mess." Amanda joked.

"I wouldn't have Ivy though. She is worth the misery and the $4000 a month of alimony that I'm paying her to stay the hell away." Zeke remarked.

"That's how my father thinks of she who will not be named. He hates her for almost killing Caroline, but without her I would not exist." Troy told the group, not even able to say his biological mother's name 14 years after the fact.

"I feel the same way. That's the only reason why I can forgive her even a little bit." Kim said from the head of the table.

"How can you forgive her at all?" Taylor asked, who was sitting next to her date Marc. Only Taylor would bring her happily married campaign Manager as her date.

"Because I have two wonderful children, a husband who loves me very much, and a career that helps me shape the future minds of the world. She is going to be spending the rest of her life alone in a mental hospital. I can't feel anger, only pity for her." Kim said solemnly. However, the moment was broken by Penelope and Ryan running to the table. Ryan looked confused but Penelope was highly amused.

"What's going on?" Kim asked.

"What goes around, just came back around for Mr. Cross. Check the camera on the roof." Penelope said laughing.

"How is she going to do that here?" Zeke asked out loud. That's when Kim pulled out her IPad.

"The school's Security System is fully accessible through my iPad." She said pulling up the security camera for the roof just in time to see Martha kicking her husband in the stomach before running down the stairs with Kelsey and what she assumes to be the other guy following behind.

"I'm so glad I got out when I did." Marc said laughing.

"Says the guy whose husband got another girl pregnant." Zeke mumbled under breath but everyone could still hear him.

"It's not cheating if you are watching." Marc said with a wicked smirk. "If Jimmy did the traditional NBA player thing I would rip off his balls. This arrangement works for us, who are you to judge?"

"I don't need to know that." Sharpay said with a groan.

"We have a code 16 on the roof. I'm going to need security to escort Mr. Jason Cross off the property." Jackie whispered into her ear piece as she gave Marc a very irritated look.

"I knew he would be stupid enough to try something at the reunion." Kim said with a sigh.

"Too bad you asked her to take over roof duty." Penelope said just as Kim got a twinkle in her eye.

"You knew this was going to happen!" Sharpay accused.

"I don't know what you're talking about. He was bound to get caught creeping around, eventually. The whole faculty knew what was going on. Martha is a good person. She doesn't deserve what he's putting her through. Unfortunately no matter what we say she wasn't going to accept the truth until she saw it for herself." Kim explained.

"You still set her up." Sharpay said crossing her arms over her chest.

"If it makes you happy I promise to pay for her divorce lawyer."

"Not really."

"I am going to go check on her. She needs another friend right now." Kim said before leaving just in time to miss Jason's walk of shame with security. Sharpay believes they brought him through the cafeteria purposely to make the experience as humiliating as possible.

"Taylor thanks for inviting me to be your date." Marc said smiling as he took a drink of champagne. "This is so much better than Jimmy's high school reunion. It's not every day I get to watch my bastard ex boyfriend get dragged by off security for being a prick." Marc says pointing to a very angry Jason being manhandled by security.

"What about yours?" Penelope asked.

"I don't know. I didn't go." Marc answered.

"I don't blame you. I'm not going to mind." Penelope told everyone.

"Why not?" Sharpay asked.

"I don't feel like being called a traitor for working for the enemy." Penelope explained.

"Considering West High will not exist after this year that should make things a little easier." Troy added.

"I was asking Marc that question." Sharpay clarified.

"We were not very popular in high school. Marc and Nikki were the only people I could actually tolerate and we still talk to each other on a daily basis. There's really no one else we want to see." Amanda explained.

"Nikki went but that was because her girlfriend at the time also went to our high school and made her go. Thankfully our school only puts you through this torture every 10 years." Marc said smiling.

"You're married to an NBA player. You should have gone just for the bragging rights alone." Gabriella added.

"You do have a point. Maybe next time." Was all Marc said before the group broke into more gossipy stories about their former classmates. The biggest surprise of all was Julian, also known as 'skater dude' in high school, was a member of the Boston Philharmonic as a cello player.

"I think I drank too much punch. I assume that ladies' room is now clear of screaming jolted wife. Excuse me." Sharpay said as soon as she saw Kim consoling a still upset Martha at the dessert table. Zeke's signature chocolate pastries can make any situation better.

"I need to go too." Penelope said getting up as well.

"You know, I can go to the restroom by myself." Sharpay said as soon as they made it to the hallway.

"Yes but I need to talk to you. Mission 'get Ryan out of your loft' is a complete success." Penelope said referring to the planned that Kim, her, and Gabriella came up with. Sharpay's only role was to tell Ryan that he couldn't come back once Gabriella successfully got him out of the house. "He's taking the job."

"Oh thank god. I love my brother but I can't take him so depressed." She said actually hugging Penelope.

"I have another reason for you to hug me. Remember when I told you I would give you my ovaries if I could at the funeral?"

"Vaguely," Sharpay supplied.

"I was joking at the time but I am serious now. I want to be your gestational carrier."

"What? More importantly, why?" Sharpay asked still surprised.

"Because you and Chad are my friends and deserve to be happy. I was going to do it for Zack and Ryan anyway but things just didn't work out. I'm not going to be able to give you a niece and nephew anymore but I can give you a son or daughter. I have a job with summers off anyway. We can aim for me to get pregnant right before school starts again so I can give birth in the spring and have all summer to recover. It's a good idea." Penelope was babbling by that point.

"This is big. Chad and I haven't really talked about alternatives because everything with Ryan and the kids."

"Don't forget your busy career. Did I ever thank you for giving me credit for helping you create _Scenes from an American high school_? I'm actually going to be able to get that Ferrari I always wanted. They're even talking about making me a consultant." Penelope said smiling.

"You deserve it." Sharpay said graciously.

"However, even doing all that I can still carry a baby for you. Again, it is not like I'm using them. Just think about it." Penelope said as they stepped into the restroom.

"Okay."

* * *

**June 3, 2023**

"If somebody told me 15 years ago that I would be standing here giving the toast at my ex boyfriend's wedding I would have suggested psychiatric hospitalization, especially if it was right after our break up." Sharpay said as she stood up in front of the table in the banquet room of Zeke signature Albuquerque restaurant Ivy. Zeke opted for a much smaller wedding this time around made up of just friends and family. It almost seemed like most of the attendance were in the bridal party. Her, Jackie, Marc and Nikki were bridesmaids/attendance for Amanda. Penelope, Ryan, Troy and Chad were Zeke's attendance. Penelope was her fellow best person/maid of honor, Ivy and Gabi were the flower girls. Ivy was currently sleeping on Amanda's lap. Apparently, the ceremony wore the little girl out.

"If you told me I was going to be the maid of honor for your bride to be, I would have been equally horrified. Then again, I never expected to meet somebody like Amanda. I'm personally surprised she survived being my roommate from entire semester. I'm still shocked we are friends after all these years. I love you like the sister that Darby refuses to have because it would ruin her figure. Honestly, I'm just happy that you have found happiness." She said looking over to her friend.

"The fact that I'm giving this speech a second time is equally surprising. Though, I can honestly say that Amanda is a much better match."

The gold digger that Zeke marred the first time asked Sharpay and Gabriella to be in the wedding party because she didn't really have any friends. She personally believes the wicked bitch wanted the bridal party to be filled with celebrities. Although the no friends thing was probably true because she was a dreadful person. A lot like the Sharpay she was in high school before she stopped trying to be the person Darby thought she should be. Unfortunately, in case Ivy is not actually asleep she cannot say any of these things aloud.

"Everyone deserves a second chance at love and happiness no one knows that better than me. Zeke, I hope that you will make the best of your second chance. I hope all your wishes come true this time around. I hope you find a love that will last a lifetime." Sharpay said as she lifted her glass of sparkling cider. "May you find forever together." As the glasses clinked, Sharpay sat down before Penelope got up to roast her ex boyfriend.

The rest of the wedding was great. The best part was seeing Ryan on the dance floor with Ivy and Gabi laughing and having a good time. He was starting to come back to his self. He was now slow dancing with Taylor with a smile on his face. The fact that he was taking the job at East High gave Sharpay hoped that he would come out of everything someday.

Sharpay was currently on the floor with Troy because Kim wanted him to dance with someone.

"So you're taking the job as head writer?" Troy asked her.

"Writing and producing, that makes me your new boss. You know how much I love telling you what to do. Also, I am now in talks with ABC family about a series based on the _Country Club Chronicles_. They're not as freaked out about my husband being a sex expert." She said with a laugh.

"That's great." Troy said smiling. "Though, I am most happy about you moving back. Kim misses you."

"I think it will be better for the kids." Sharpay said with a smile.

"That is true. That's part of the reason why we decided to be based out of New Mexico instead of somewhere else. Besides you will have Alex around to help take care of his baby Cousins." He said laughing.

"Good point." Sharpay said as Chad tapped him on the shoulder.

"Can I cut in?" Chad asked with a smile.

"Of course, I'll see you later Pay." Troy Said kissing her on the cheek.

"Did you have fun dancing with Penelope?"

"As much as I ever do. When were you going to tell me that she offered to carry our future child?" Chad asked as they started to move around the dance floor.

"Probably when we arrived back in New York. We had too much to talk about last night with the decision to move back here." Sharpay said honestly.

"I think Penelope offering to be our carrier should've been something else to consider in the decision. It would have definitely made me more willing to come back." Chad told her.

"We decided to come back anyway, so it doesn't matter in the long run. You want to take Penelope up on her offer?"

"There's nobody else I'd trust more that doesn't already have their uterus in use. This is our best option." Chad told her.

"I know Jackie's out, but what about Amanda. Zeke would be okay with his wife carrying our child." She said knowing Zeke would do just about anything to make her happy.

"Like I said before her uterus is already in use."

"She's pregnant too?" Chad nodded his head in agreement. "Let me guess, she didn't want to upset me?"

"More like she didn't want her family to think this was a shotgun wedding. She's barely a month pregnant anyway."

"You know this how?" Sharpay asked her husband as they continued on the dance floor.

"You know that I am the one person in this group that knows everyones sex secrets." Chad said with a slight shiver.

"Very true. So you want to do this?" Sharpay asked

"I will do whatever you want me to Sharpay. Do you want to do this?

"I'm perfectly happy with the twins." She told her husband.

"But you still want a little me and you in the world. Penelope can give us that."

"Okay." That is when her husband started jumping for joy on the dance floor. She did not even have to tell Penelope that they were taking her up on the offer because she already knew.

* * *

**August 14, 2023**

"Seriously, our aunt Kim is the principal of the school, yet we still have to wait in line with everyone else to register. Why can't we use nepotism to our advantage just this once?" Olivia said with hands on her hip. She looked like a mini Sharpay at that moment. He and his wife were currently the fourth in line waiting to register for the 2023 school year. Seriously why can't they do this online?

"Actually you only have to do this in person if you're transferring from out of state. Everyone else can register online." The woman in front of them said.

"That is so unfair." Isaac said in annoyance.

"It's not so bad. If it wasn't for horrible registration lines Chad and I would have never reconnected in college." Sharpay said smiling.

"I don't believe that." Olivia said. "You two are destined for each other."

"Seriously, what is taking so long?" Isaac said looking impatiently at his watch.

"Seriously, do you have something better to do?" His sister asked.

"Unlike you, I actually have friends here who are not relatives that I want to hang out with." Isaac responded in annoyance. "We're so going to end up with our aunt in homeroom."

"Actually, Van is technically a sophomore." Chad told his children.

"The weight wouldn't be so long if the Vice Principal wasn't throwing up in her office. How unprofessional." Remarked the same unpleasant woman in front. Chad was almost positive Penelope was pregnant considering they did the first round of in Vitro a month ago.

"She is so pregnant." The twins said simultaneously as they gave each other high fives. "It looks like we will be getting a new brother or sister this year."

"What are you guys talking about?" Sharpay asked her children.

"Mom we know that Aunt Penelope is your gestational carrier." Olivia replied.

"You are not doing a good job of hiding it from us." Isaac added.

"It wasn't like you were being that stealthy about it." Olivia scoffed.

"We will talk about this later. I need to check up on Penelope." Chad said pulling Sharpay to go with him. "Stay in line and behave." He told the twins with a glare.

"Why is he cutting in line?" Said that same lady. Chad hoped he would not run into her at the PTA meetings.

"I'm a doctor. Olivia, call your aunt Kim and tell her that Penelope needs to be relieved of registration duty. Sharpay follow me. " Chad said as they walked into Penelope's Office. He could hear her throwing up in her private restroom.

"How are you doing?" Sharpay asked as sat down next to Penelope.

"Horrible. Why did I agree to do this again?" Penelope asked.

"Because you're a good person." Sharpay said getting up to grab Penelope's mouthwash from the counter.

"You don't know if you're actually pregnant yet. It could just be bad takeout." Chad told her not wanting to get his hopes up.

"I took three pregnancy tests this morning. All came out positive. Congratulations, Sharpay you're going to be a biological mom." With those words, his wife burst into tears but they were happy tears.

* * *

**August 15, 2023**

"I know I have been too busy to see you since I moved back here but I needed to get settled. I'm still staying at Gabriella's Albuquerque house. She says there's no point of me getting an apartment when she's not here 90% of the time. It really is a nice house." Ryan told the grave that contains his husband.

"Let me catch you up on everything you have missed. Zeke and Amanda did get married and they will be expecting their first child together sometime in February or early March. Ivy is not happy because she is afraid she's being replaced. She is worried that Amanda will like the new baby more." Ryan said with a laugh.

"Taylor lost the election but only by 1 percent of the vote. Her competition found out about her campaign manager's open marriage and used it against her. Someday when it's not raining, I'll tell you the real story behind Kerri's pregnancy. I think this has turned Taylor off of politics for good. She's decided to stick to charity work. We'll see how long that will last when she comes to visit next month." Ryan said with a laugh.

"However, it pissed Marc off enough that he is running for DC City council. He said if they elected Marion Barry after his scandals, then he definitely has a chance." Ryan smiled at that.

"In other pregnancy news, Chad and Sharpay are finely going to have their baby according to the twins. Your Penelope is the one carrying the baby. I don't know if I can handle a pregnant Penelope as my boss." Ryan said with a shudder.

"Tomorrow is my first day as a teacher and I am absolutely terrified. I'm not sure if I can do this but I'm going to try. It's hard to be miserable when you're spending all your time putting lesson plans together. I still miss you. I still feel like I am being swelled by the darkness but there's this little spark of light helping me get through it. I promise I will be okay someday." Ryan said as he laid a single red rose on the gray.

* * *

**August 14, 2009**

After several months of dirty diapers and accompanying his wife to shareholder meetings Chad finally decided on a new major. He wanted to be a doctor. He wasn't sure what type yet but he knew that pre med was where he needed to be right now. Besides somebody and the group needed to become a doctor now that Amanda realizes that she needs to find a different path. Amanda was supposed to be with him right now the change their majors together. Instead she was driving Zeke to the Airport. He was going back to culinary school in Chicago and unlike him and Taylor they had the good sense to just be friends right now. He just hoped that they would get a second chance eventually.

Chad absolutely hated the fact that he had to change his major in person. This is so unfair. He was alone at the end of the line because the twins needed a diaper break. He was pretty sure his wife was going to spend the entire time in the baby room.

"Hey what are you doing in line?" Chad heard a voice that he hasn't heard in person since his wedding to Sharpay.

"Switching to Pre med. For some evil reason I cannot do this online. Nikki what are you doing here?" Chad asked giving the girl a hug.

She has been through as much as Sharpay has in the last few months. Chad isn't sure what is worse to have your be father taken away suddenly or to watch him waste the way into nothing. Nikki's father finally succumbed to the cancer just two weeks ago. "I wasn't sure you were going to come back. At least, not so soon." He said pulling away.

"My stepmom did not give me a choice. Besides, it was in my father's will that I finish school. It was his last request, so I'm here. For some reason you also have to re-enroll in person." She said with a sad smile.

"That's so unfair. I would convey my deepest sympathies, but Sharpay said that was annoying as hell." Chad said with half a smile.

"Only when it's not sincere, the worst is when everyone tells you things like 'I know how you feel.' They have no clue how I feel." She said in anger.

"I think I have a pretty good idea." His wife said handing baby Isaac to him. Olivia went straight to Nikki who extended her arms. I'm sorry that we didn't come up for the funeral. I just wasn't ready for that sort of thing." Sharpay said sincerely.

"You do need to apologize about that. I understand. If it happened the other way around, I don't think I would've been ready either. You may be one of the few who does know what I am going through but it's not exactly the same. Oh my god, they're so big now." She said smiling at the baby.

"They're going to start crawling any moment now, and then they will be getting in to everything. It makes me happy I am doing independent study next year." Sharpay said and kindly enough, Nikki did not ask why.

"I go to the bathroom for 10 minutes to change your childrens' dirty diapers and you are already chatting up another pretty girl in the line." Sharpay said with fake annoyance.

"I'm not doing anything of the sort. You're the only pretty girl that I need." He said kissing his wife.

"You two are adorable together. You're already the perfect little family." Nikki said smiling.

"And to think it all started in this line." Sharpay said kissing him one more time.

**The End.**


End file.
